*     FEB  18  1901      * 


BV    650     .S25 

Satterlee,  Henry  Yates,  184  3 

-1908. 
New   Tes-bainent:    churchznanshlp 

and  the  principles  upon 


[v^ 


NEW   TESTAMENT   CHURCHMANSHIP 


New  Testament 
CHURCHMANSHIP 

AND   THE 

Principles  upon  which  it  was  Founded 


BY   THE    RIGHT    REV. 

HENRY   Y.    SATTERLEE,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Bishop  of  IVasbingfoH 

AUTHOR    OF    '♦  A   CREEDLESS    GOSPEL   AND 
THE   GOSPEL   CREED,"    ETC. 


NEW    YORK 
LONGMANS,    GREEN   AND   CO. 

LONDON   AND    BOMBAY 
1899 


•  Copyright,  1899 
By  Longmans,  Green  and  Co. 


John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


TO   THE 

Communicants  anti  Ctutdj  Workers 

OF    CALVARY    PARISH,    NEW   YORK 

WHOSE    INTELLIGENT    SYMPATHY    AND    COOPERATION 

WERE   AN    UNFAILING    HELP    AND    INSPIRATION    TO 

THE   AUTHOR   DURING    HIS    RECTORSHIP, 

THIS   VOLUME   IS 

AFFECTION  A  TEL  Y  AND  GRA  TEFULL  V  DEDICA  TED 


PREFACE 


TT^'ESTERN  Christendom,  through  the  domi- 
VV  nating  influences  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
during  the  past  thousand  years  has  witnessed  the 
gradual  substitution  of  another  type  of  Christianity 
for  that  of  apostohc  days.  In  the  Apostohc  Church 
itself,  a  true  balance  was  preserved  between  the  in- 
ward or  subjective,  and  the  outward  or  objective, 
religious  life  of  the  Church,  and  we  read  that,  under 
the  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Spirit  of  Truth, 
those  baptized  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost  continued 
steadfastly  in  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship 
and  in  the  breaking  of  bread  and  in  prayers.  This  is 
a  fundamental  principle  of  the  religion  of  Christ. 
The  inward  and  outward  are  so  bound  together  in 
His  Incarnation  that  they  are  mutually  dependent 
upon  one  another;  nor  can  the  highest  spiritual  life, 
which  is  life  in  Christ,  be  fully  attained  save  through 
their  union.  Each,  without  the  other,  gives  rise  to 
an  abnormal,  one-sided  development  of  religion; 
and  this  has  been  the  error  into  which  the  Roman 
Church  has  fallen.  By  unduly  exaggerating  the  out- 
ward at  the  expense  of  the  inward,  she  not  only  lost 
that  which  St.  Paul  calls  tJie  proportion  or  analogy  of 
the  Faith}  but  also  acquired  an  untrue,  unspiritualized 

^  eiVe  irpo'prjTeiay,  Kara  rrjv  avaXoyiav  ry\s  iriaTecos  (Rom.  xii.  6). 


Vlll  PREFACE 

conception  of  the  outward.  It  is  true  that  she  pre- 
serves outwardly  the  form  of  the  Faith  once  for  all 
delivered  to  the  saints,  but  while  she  boasts  of  her  or- 
thodoxy and  challenges  the  world  to  find  a  flaw  of 
heresy  in  her  apostolic  doctrine,  she  has  lost  the  apo- 
stolic spirit ;  and  that  want  has  been  felt  ever  since  the 
rise  of  the  Papacy,  by  all  believers  who  have  gone  back 
to  the  apostolic  records  that  they  might  drink  in  the 
spirit  of  the  New  Testament  Church.  Consequently, 
ever  since  the  thirteenth  century,  there  have  been  in 
Europe  a  series  of  reformations,  or  attempted  refor- 
mations, all  in  the  direction  of  inward  personal  loy- 
alty to  Christ  in  contradistinction  to  outward  loyalty 
to  church  organization.  And  it  should  be  carefully 
noted,  that  the  New  Testament  itself  has  been  the 
fount  of  inspiration  for  all  those  consecutive  move- 
ments which  date  back  to  Peter  Waldo  in  Italy, 
to  John  Wickliffe  in  England,  to  John  Huss  in 
Bohemia,  to  the  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life  (of 
which  Thomas  a  Kempis  was  a  member)  in  Hol- 
land, and  to  the  Mystics  in  Germany.  The  inven- 
tion of  printing  about  A.  D.  1450,  and  the  widespread 
circulation  and  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
which  followed,  prepared  the  way  for  the  Protestant 
Reformation,  about  seventy  years  later,  when  these 
different  movements  were  all  brought  together  under 
the  leadership  of  Martin  Luther.  "Justification  by 
Faith,"  the  inspiring  watchword  of  the  Reformation, 
was  the  expression  of  a  great  spiritual  want.  It 
was  a  great  catholic  cry  of  human  nature  which 
had  been  smothered  for  centuries  by  the  so-called 
Catholic  Church.  The  Reformation  was  a  protest 
in   behalf  of   the    inward  which    had    been    i":nored 


PREFACE  IX 

for  the  outward ;  a  protest  in  behalf  of  the  sacred- 
ness  of  human  personahty,  of  the  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  of  the  freedom  of  conscience,  all  of  which 
had  been  sacrificed  for  outward  forms,  outward  profes- 
sions of  belief  and  the  preservation  of  church  organi- 
zation. And  the  fact  that  the  Protestant  Reformation 
has  held  its  own  for  nearly  four  hundred  years,  unit- 
ing so  many  widely  different  sects  under  one  name 
and  in  one  common  cause,  is  not  only  a  sign  of  the 
extent  of  the  spiritual  disease  which  God  raised  it  up 
to  cure,  but  also  a  lesson  from  God,  imprinted  on 
the  pages. of  church  history  for  all  future  time,  that 
the  inward  is  never  hereafter  to  be  sacrificed  for  the 
outward,  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  It  is  also  a  fact 
never  to  be  forgotten,  that  Protestantism,  through 
the  inward  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  became 
Catholic  enough  to  hold  to  the  Scriptures,  the  Catho- 
lic Creeds,  and  the  two  Sacraments  ordained  by 
Christ  Himself. 

But  if  the  Roman  Church  has  gone  too  far  in 
one  direction,  Protestantism,  not  even  excepting 
the  Anglican  Communion,  has  gone  too  far  in  the 
other.  The  Roman  Church  gradually  lost  the  Spirit 
of  apostolic  truth,  while  she  preserved  the  letter 
of  formal  orthodoxy.  Losing  the  spirit,  she  lost, 
also,  those  things  which  are  especially  revealed  by 
the  Spirit  of  God;  and  then  followed,  naturally,  the 
corruption  of  those  truths  which  were  unspiritually 
held.  The  Protestants,  on  the  other  hand,  in  their 
intense  desire  to  recover  the  spiritual,  lost  the  true 
meaning  of  the  outward  in  relation  to  the  inward, 
and  then  fell  into  the  error  of  making  their  own 
subjective  impressions  the  ultimate  criterion  of  the 


X  PREFACE 

objective  truths  of  Revelation.  In  this  way,  the 
Continental  Reformers  were  unconsciously  led  into 
the  error  of  protesting,  not  only  against  the  corrup- 
tions of  Rome,  but  also  against  the  Scripture  truths 
which  had  been  thus  corrupted. 

The  English  reformers  were  held  back  from  making 
the  same  mistake  through  national  and  religious 
causes,  the  majority  of  which  had  been  influencing 
the  life  of  the  people  ever  since  the  days  of  Stephen 
Langton  and  the  Magna  Charta.  Not  the  least  of 
these  was  a  national  reverence  for  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, which  had  been  growing  for  centuries,  and 
which  was  immeasurably  deepened  by  Wickliffe's 
English  translation  of  the  Bible.  Yet,  while  the 
independent  attitude  of  the  English  Church  was 
unique  in  Western  Europe,  and  while,  by  preserving 
the  balance  between  the  outward  and  inward  ele- 
ments of  Christ's  religion,  she  approached  more 
nearly  the  standard  of  the  New  Testament  Church 
than  any  other  religious  body,  even  the  English  re- 
formers themselves  could  not  altogether  emancipate 
themselves  from  the  influences  which  had  dominated 
the  thought  of  Western  Christendom  in  the  centuries 
that  preceded  the  reformation.  In  the  sixteenth 
century,  through  the  power  of  the  Papacy,  the  whole 
conception  of  the  Church  of  Christ  had  gradually, 
insensibly,  fallen  more  and  more  below  the  New  Tes- 
tament level.  In  St.  Paul's  Epistles  the  Church  is 
held  up  as  the  Body  of  Christ,  connected  indissolubly 
with  its  head  in  Heaven ;  and  to  the  minds  of  New 
Testament  Christians  there  was  no  possibility  of  any 
separation  between  Christ  and  His  Church.  What- 
ever Christ  was  His  Church  was.     But  in  the  Middle 


PREFACE  XI 

Ages,  through  the  persistent  teachings  of  the  Papacy, 
the  idea  of  a  vicarious  ministry  became  prevalent: 
a  mediatorial  priesthood  was  interjected  between  God 
and  believers ;   and  the  logical  and  inevitable  conse- 
quence of  this  interjection  was  a  separation  between 
Christ  and   His  Church.     Protestantism  was  not  re- 
sponsible for  having  an  imperfect  conception  of  the 
Church,  when  the  true  idea  had  been  thus  distorted ; 
it  can  hardly  be  expected,  therefore,  that  Protestant 
theology,  after  negatively  protesting  against  the  cor- 
ruptions  of   Rome,    should    have   been    able   to    go 
further,  and   do   the  positive  work   of  restoring  the 
original  Faith  as  it  was  before  it  had  been  corrupted. 
In  the  violence  of  the  reaction  against  Rome,  and  es- 
pecially  against    those    doctrines    of    the    Primitive 
Church    which    Rome   had   most    grossly  perverted. 
Protestantism  overlooked  the  fact  that  the  Church  is 
called    in   the   New   Testament  itself   the   Body   of 
Christ,  and  went  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  under- 
valuing Sacraments,  Apostolic  Order,  Apostolic  Au- 
thority, and  everything  connected  with  the  Church. 
This  one-sidedness  of  Protestantism,  in    overempha- 
sizing the  subjective  and  ignoring  the  objective  side 
of  Christianity,  was   imperfectly   recognized,  until  it 
was  followed  by  its  own  inevitable  consequences  in 
Church  history;   and  then,  slowly  but  surely,  those 
Scriptures  which  had  been  ignored  began  to  reassert 
their   influence,  until,    at   last,    that    same    authority 
which  was  appealed  to  three  hundred  years  ago  as 
supporting  the  sacredness    of  private  judgement,   is 
now  being  appealed  to  as  supporting  the  sacredness 
of  church    principles    against    individualism    and   an 
exaggeration  of  private  judgement     Indeed,  it  may 


Xll  PREFACE 

be  said  that  the  New  Testament  itself,  which  caused 
the  Protestant  Reformation,  is  now  causing  the  refor- 
mation of  Protestantism. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  the  writer  has  felt  no  hesita- 
tion in  adopting  for  the  title  of  this  book  the  name 
of  '*  New  Testament  Churchmanship." 

As  a  glance  at  the  Table  of  Contents  will  show,  it 
is  an  humble  attempt  to  differentiate  between  church 
principles  as  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament  itself, 
and  church  principles  as  they  appeared  at  the  time 
of  the  Reformation,  in  the  mediaeval  setting  and 
interpretation  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  As  this  con- 
trast cannot  be  fully  realized  in  all  its  bearings  un- 
less the  correlation  between  the  natural  and  spiritual, 
which  is  the  central  truth  of  the  doctrine  of  the  In- 
carnation, is  kept  constantly  in  mind,  the  author  in 
the  first  three  chapters  has  first  emphasized  this 
truth  itself,  as  it  stands  revealed  in  the  Incarnation 
and  Resurrection  of  Christ,  before  passing  more 
directly  to  the  Church,  which  is  an  extension  of  the 
Incarnation,  and  to  the  consideration  of  New  Testa- 
ment Churchmanship  which  was  founded  on  the 
doctrine  of  the  Incarnation. 

Though  the  author  has  not  hesitated  to  criticise 
Protestant  Theology  frankly  and  fearlessly,  his  words 
have  been  dictated  by  no  unfriendly  spirit,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  by  a  deep  and  loving  sympathy. 
Would  that  the  same  kind  of  sympathy  might  flow 
toward  the  Church  of  Rome,  for  she  commands  our 
deepest  reverence  on  account  of  her  apostolic  origin. 
Two  of  Christ's  own  Apostles  were  associated  together 
as  her  founders;  an  Epistle  in  the  New  Testament 
itself  was  addressed    to    her    first    members ;   in  the 


PREFACE  XIU 

early  Church  she  was  the  buhvark  of  orthodoxy  and 
the  protector  of  the  weak;  and  to-day  she  preserves, 
in  outward  form,  not  only  the  ancient  Faith,  but  hal- 
lowed heritages  and  Catholic  usages  sanctified  by  the 
Christian  ages,  which  Protestantism  has  thought- 
lessly thrown  away.  If  the  modern  Church  of  Rome 
could  return  to  what  she  herself  was  in  the  ancient 
days,  she  might  take  a  leading  part  in  the  coming 
reunion  of  Christendom,  but  she  is  paralyzed  by  a 
power  that  stands  outside  of  her  real  life.  While 
the  Papacy  dominates  her  destinies,  and  so  long 
as  the  Roman  Curia  usurps  control  over  her,  she 
will  keep  clinging  to  the  letter,  and  "  the  letter  kill- 
eth."  The  only  change  which  can  ever  come  to  her, 
until  she  shakes  off  this  yoke  of  bondage,  is  the 
change  of  decay.  But  "  the  spirit  giveth  life,"  and 
Protestantism,  with  all  its  crudeness,  its  one-sided- 
ness,  its  lack  of  Apostolic  Order  and  organization, 
is  instinct  with  life  and  energy  and  hope  for  the 
future. 

It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  author,  throughout  this 
book,  to  avoid  controversy;  to  show  that  Church 
doctrines,  apart  from  those  exaggerations  which 
challenge  controversy,  are  really  Bible  truth;  and  to 
keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace. 
In  the  chapters  on  "Apostolic  Succession"  and 
"  Christian  Sacerdotalism,"  he  has  followed,  some- 
times quite  closely,  the  line  of  thought  marked  out 
by  Canon  IMoberly  in  his  valuable  and  most  helpful 
work  on  "  Ministerial  Priesthood."  When  the  repre- 
sentative character  of  the  ordained  Priesthood  of  the 
Christian  Church  is  clearly  seen  and  understood,  in 
its  true  light,  the  plane  of  cleavage  will  be  found  be- 


XIV  PREFACE 

tween  a  true  and  a  false  sacerdotalism,  and  no  room 
will  be  left  for  suspicion  or  prejudice. 

The  author  would  take  this  opportunity  of  ex- 
pressing his  indebtedness  to  Dr.  William  C.  Rives 
for  kindly  and  painstaking  aid  in  correcting  the 
proofsheets ;  and  to  the  Editor  of  the  ''  Independent " 
for  his  courtesy  in  consenting  to  the  reprint,  as  por- 
tions of  chapters,  of  two  papers  by  the  writer  which 
have  appeared  in  that  journal. 

There  is  to-day  an  ever  increasing  number  of  ear- 
nest Christian  men  and  women  who,  in  their  longings 
for  the  coming  of  Christ's  Kingdom  on  earth,  desire 
above  all  else  to  follow  that  high  ideal  of  the  Church 
which  inspired  the  first  believers,  to  aim  for  that 
kind  of  unity  which  Christ  set  forth  in  His  high- 
priestly  prayer  the  night  before  His  Crucifixion,  and 
to  be  filled  with  the  New  Testament  spirit  in  doing 
Christ's  work. 

It  was  the  privilege  of  the  author,  while  in  charge 
of  Calvary  Parish,  New  York,  to  be  helped  and 
cheered  by  a  band  of  church  workers  who  were 
inspired  by  such  aims;  to  instruct  them,  at  the 
monthly  meetings  of  the  Communicants'  Union,  re- 
garding the  principles  of  New  Testament  Church- 
manship  ;  and  to  study  with  them  how  rector  and 
people  might  co-operate  in  applying  these  same 
principles  to  the  conditions  of  our  modern  church 
life.  And  it  was  at  the  request  of  those  communi- 
cants, made  one  memorable  Christmastide,  that  this 
book  has  been  written. 

Henry  Y.  Satterlee. 

Christmas  Eve,  i8q8. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I 

THE   VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF   CHRIST 

I 

Page 
Unique  significance   of  the    Birth   of   Christ  in    History  and 

Revelation     .     .     .     .     , 1-2 

Present  day  tendency  to  doubt  the  fact  of  the  Virgin  Birth  .     .  2 

//  is  objected: 

[a)  that  only  two  of  the  Gospels  record  the  fact ; 

{b)  that  there  is  only  one  reference  to  it  in  Prophecy; 

{c)  that  there  is  no  mention  of  it  in  the  Epistles ; 

{d)  that  it  is  an   unnecessary   miracle   of   no   theological 

importance 3 

In  answer  to  such  objections  it  must  be  considered : 

that  if  the  account  of  the  Nativity  is  dropped  from  the 

records,  the  integrity  of  the  Gospel  History  is  destroyed  ; 

that   the  same  objections  apply  with  equal  force  to   the 

narratives  of  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension 3-4 

Evidences  of  Genuineness  in  the  Records  themselves : 

Simplicity  and  conciseness  of  style. 

The  narratives  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke. 

Marked  absence  of  the  miraculous  in  the  Story,  apart 

from  the  angelic  visions  and  messages 5-9 

St.  yohfis  Gospel : 

It   contains   no  record   of  the   fact,  but   the   Miraculous 

Birth  necessarily  implied  in  chap.  i.  14. 

St.  John  also  silent  regarding  the  institution  of  Baptism 

and    the    Eucharist   but    refers   to    both   by   implication 

(chap.  iii.  4,  and  vi.) 9-12 


xvi  CONTENTS 


II 

But  it  is  objected :  Page 

that  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospels  themselves  is  doubtful ; 
that  the  canon  was  formed  in  an  uncritical  age ; 
that  ancient  Gospels  may  be  discovered  in  which  the  nar- 
rative of  the  Virgin  Birth  is  wanting. 

Such  objections  the  result  of  ignorance  of  the  real  facts. 

Modern   methods   of   criticism    different,  but  scholarship 
equally  exact  and  conscientious  in  the  first  three  centuries    14-16 

Results  of  critical  research  in  the  last  twenty-five  years  all  tend 
to  establish  authenticity  and  early  date  of  the  Gospels. 
Latest  criticism  fixes  the  date  of  the  three  synoptic  Gospels 

within  forty  years  after  the  Ascension 17 

Witness  of  Irenaeus  ;  the  Muratorian  Fragment ;  the  Dia- 
tessaron  of  Tatian 18-19 

Evidences  that   belief  in  the   Virgin  Birth   of   our  Lord  was 
general  in  this  early  period. 

Ignatius ;    Justin    Martyr ;    Denial    of    the   fact    by    the 
Ebionites .         21 

III 
Mythic  theory  of  the  Virgin  Birth 

Cannot  be  sustained  by  the  facts 23 

Theory  that  it  was  a  legend  equally  untenable  ; 

It  must  therefore  be  accepted  as  historic  fact 24-25 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE   NEW   ADAM 

The  real  nature  of  the  Incarnation  cannot  be  interpreted  apart 

from  the  Virgin  Birth  of  Christ 26 

I 

Fundamental  principal  of  the  Incarnation  —  the  perfect  union 
of  the  Divine  and  human  in  Jesus  Christ 
Inconceivable  that  the  Godhead  could  assume  imperfect 

or  sinful  manhood 27 

The  first  Adam  free  from  the  taint  of  hereditary  sin. 
The  human  nature  of  Christ  was  also  sinless. 

In  both  the  will  was  free  from  bias  toward  sin 28 

If  Christ  had  inherited  a  sinful  nature,  the  presence  of 


CONTENTS  XVU 

Page 
a  superhuman  moral  power  in  His  Manhood  would  have 
been  necessary  to  counteract  the  bias  toward  sin ;  but  this 
would  have  destroyed  His  freedom  of  will  and  the  reality 

of  His  temptations 29 

Therefore  the  Virgin  birth  of  Christ  is  not  an  unnecessary  mira- 
cle,—  Christ,  the  Second  Adam,  the  Progenitor  of  a  new 
race,  must  have  been  Himself  a  New  Creation     .     .     . 


30 


II 


Christ,  the  Word  made  Flesh,  brought  Heaven  and  earth  to- 
gether in  His  own  Person 31 

Therefore  life  in  Christ  includes  both  the  physical  and  spiritual. 
The  New  Testament  teaches  that  the  sanctification  of  the 
body  is  inseparable  from  that  of  the  soul. 

Contrast  between  the  First  and  Second  Adam  : 

First  Adam  and  his  descendants  "  of  the  earth,  earthy." 
Different  meaning  of  "sons  of  God"  in  the  Old  and  New 


Testaments 


32 


New  principle  of  life  imparted  to  humanity  through  the 

Incarnation 34 

First  Adam  before  the  fall,  possessed  an  uncorrupted  body. 
Physical  corruption,  one  result  of  the  fall. 
The  human  nature  of  the  Second  Adam  made  incorrupti- 
ble by  His  conquest  over  sin. 

Belief  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  that  Christ's  Body  could 
not  see  corruption. 

Therefore  it  must  have  been  created  uncorrupt  through 
the  conception  by  the  Holy  Ghost 35-3^ 

HI 

Mystery  of  personality : 

Each  htwian  personality  separate  and  distinct  from  all 

others yj 

If  Christ  had  a  human  father  He  would  have  had  a  human 
personality 

Christ  is  one  Divine  Person,  —  He  has  a  human  body,  soul, 
and  will,  but  no  human  personality. 

Controversies  in  the  Nicene,  and  post-Nicene  periods,  in  re- 
gard to  the  Personality  of  Christ 38-39 

The  fact  of  Christ's  Divine  Selfhood  as  it  interprets  His  con- 

.  sciousness 40 


XVI 11  CONTENTS 

Page 
Christ  was  Man,  not  a  man ;  the  Elder  Brother  of  the  whole 
human  race ;   His  love  not  limited  to  mother  and  brethren, 
but  embraced  all  who  did  the  will  of  God. 
Because  He  was  a  Divine  Person  His  Love  was  free  from 

the  limitations  of  human  love 41-43 

Christ's  Self-assertion  attracts,  instead  of  antagonizing  us,  — 
because  He  is  a  Divine  Person;  His  Personality  not  out- 
side of  our  own 44 

Importance  of  this  truth  as  interpreting  the  Atonement,  the 

Resurrection,  the  Ascension 44-46 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY 
I 

Universality  of  belief  in  a  future  life 47 

Religion  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  : 

their  ideas  of  immortality  :  the  myth  of  Osiris       ....         48 
The  Children  of  Israel  uninfluenced  by  this  Egyptian  belief 
Silence  of  the  Old  Testament  regarding  Immortality 

Explanation  of  this  fact 49-50 

II 

Immortality  found  only  in  Christ 51-52 

III 
God's  revelation  of  Himself  to  Moses 53 

Our  Lord's  answer  to  the  Saddacees 54 

God  revealed  to  the  Hebrews  as  the  Source  of  Life  and 

immortality 

Their  hopes  for  the  future  centred  in  the  promised  Messiah         55 

IV 

Our  Lord's  revelation  of  Himself  as  the  Life 55-5^ 

No  ground  for  the  belief  that  immortality  is  inherent  in 

human  nature 

Christ  alone  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life       ....         59 

V 

The  Resurrection  establishes  this  truth  forever 

Influence  of   the   Resurrection  on  the   lives  of  the  early 
Christians 59-^ 


CONTENTS  XIX 

VI 

Page 
Realization   of  the  oneness  of  the  present  and  future  life  in 

Christ 6i 

VII 

The  resurrection  of  the  body 62 

Immortality  of  soul  and  body  inseparable 63 

The  twofold  effects  of  sin 64 

VIII 

Prevalence  of  false  views  of  the  relation  between  physical  and 

spiritual 64 

Spiritual  knowledge  not  comprehended  by  the  natural  man      .  65 

Union  of  the  natural  and  spiritual  through  the  Incarnation  66 

The  Incarnation  and  the  Resurrection 67 


CHAPTER   IV 

HOLY    BAPTISM   AND   THE    RISEN    LIFE 

I 

The  life  lost  by  Adam  in  Paradise,  —  restored  by  Christ       .     .        68 
Story  of  Adam's  fall  unveils  a  universal  spiritual  truth  .     .         69 

Nature  of  Adafn's  sin  : 

Man  created  with  a  free  will ;  this  involves  freedom  to  sin         70 

Sin  might  have  been  prevented  : 

(i)  by  creating  man  without  a  free  will,  (2)  by  removing 

all   temptation   to   sin;    (3)   by  forcibly  restraining  man 

from  sin  ;  but  the  moral  life  would  thus  have  been  made 

impossible  for  man 71 

Suggestion  to  sin  came  from  an  outer  source. 

St.  John's  definition  :    *^ Sin  is  lawlessness." 

Independence  of  God  the  root  sin.     True  freedom  comes 

from  obedience  to  law,  whether  physical  or  spiritual. 

Spirit  of  lawlessness  isolates  us  from  God 72 

Results  of  Adam's  sin  : 

(i)  Separation  from  God;  (2)  Doubt:  of  God's  Law,  —  of 
God's  Love  ;  (3)  Ignorance  :  knowledge  of  evil  shuts  out 
real  knowledge  of  good,  —  ignorance  of  goodness  means 
ignorance  of  God 73-77 


XX  CONTENTS 

Page 
If  knowledge  of  God  is  eternal  life,  then  ignorance  of  God 
means  death. 

Therefore  the  setting  up  of  self-will  against  God's  will, 
necessarily  entails  death. 

II 

Promise  regarding  "  the  seed  of  the  woman  "  fulfilled  in  Christ  78 
Consciousness   of    separation   from    God    removed   only 

through  the  Cross 79 

Dependence  on  God  the  beginning  of  the  religious  life       .  80 

III 

The  Atonement  not  completed  at  the  Cross 81 

Exclusive  attention  directed  to  the  Death  of  Christ  by  both 

Roman  and  Protestant  Theology 82 

Consequences  of  this  teaching,  (i)  The  Cross  is  made  a 
symbol  not  only  of  death  to  sin,  but  of  new  birth  to  right- 
eousness. (2)  An  austere  and  one-sided  aspect  of  Christ- 
ianity is  presented.  (3)  Failure  to  realize  the  meaning  of 
the  Resurrection  and  Ascension,  and  consequently,  of  the 
creation  of  the  Church,  the  Mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  efificacy  of  the  Sacraments.  (4)  A  divorce  between 
faith  and  works.     (5)  Revival  of  the  old  Dualism      .     .       83-85 

IV 

Contrast  in  the  attitude  of  the  New  Testament  Church    .        85 
Early  Christians  lived  in  the  thought  of  their  risen  Lord. 

Joyousness  of  the  New  Testament 87 

Power  of  the  Resurrection  to  quicken  both  body  and  soul 

Sanctification  of  the  body  a  ruling  thought  in  the  Christian 

life 88 

V 

TJie  Great  Commission : 

(i)  Christ  speaks  as  King 

(2)  He  therefore  sends    His  Apostles  forth  into  all    the 
world. 

(3)  They  are  to  make  members  of  His  Kingdom  through 
Baptism 89-90 

]'>aptism  not  instituted  till  after  the  Resurrection 
Both  body  and  soul  must  be  born  from  above. 
Baptism  by  "  water  "  and  "  the  Spirit." 


CONTENTS  XXI 

Page 
Christ  seals  union  of  believer  with  Himself  in  Baptism, 
wherein,  (i)  the  natural  and  spiritual  are  joined  together; 
(2)  we  are  made  partakers  of  Christ's  risen  Life;  (3)  and 

members  of  His  everlasting  Kingdom oi 

St.  Paul's  teaching  regarding  Baptism        92 

If  Baptism  is  undervalued  it  is  because  real  meaning  of  the 

Resurrection  is  forgotten. 

Simplicity  of  outward  sign  in  Baptism  : 

but  stupendous  pledge  accompanies  it :  the  word  of  the 

Word  of  God q^ 

Both  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  depend  for  their  efficacy 

on  the  Word  of  Christ 96 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST   AND   THE   ASCENSION 

Christ's  work  of  Redemption  not  completed  on  the  Cross,  but 

continued  by  Him  as  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King  in  Heaven         97 

Relation  between  Christ's  Heavenly  Priesthood  and  the  Holy 

Eucharist 98-99 

Meaning  of  "  blood  "  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
"  The  Blood  of  Christ  "  means  not  the  Death,  but  the  Life 

of  Christ 100 

Doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  inconceivable  to  St.  Paul 

or  St  John loi 

The  Blood  of  Christ  meant  to  them  the  Life  of  the  Risen 

and  Ascended  Lord. 

False  impression  conveyed  by  the  substitution  of  the  crucifix 

for  the  cross  upon  the  altars  of  the  Roman  Church  .     .     .       102 

Christ's  sacrifice  continues  in  the  offering  of  His  life  in 

Heaven:  —  therefore  there  can  be  no  renewal  or  repetition 

of  the  Sacrifice 104 

Sacrifice  of  intercession  and  thanksgiving  for  men  part  of 
Christ's  Heavenly  Offering 105 

Heavenly  significance  of  the  Holy  Eucharist. 

The  Lord's  Supper  was  anticipatory 106 

Christ  offered  Himself  in  will,  before  He  offered  Himself 
on  the  Cross. 

(i)  It  was  instituted  beforehand  in  remembrance  of  His 
Death  and  Passion.  (2)  It  sets  before  us  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  the  Living  and  Glorified  Christ.     (3)    It  looked      108 


XXll  CONTENTS 

forward  to  the  fulfillment  of  the  Prophecy,  "  Whoso  eateth 
my  Flesh  and  drinketh  my  Blood  hath  eternal  Life.  (4) 
It  anticipates  the  time  when  Christ  would  become  an  in- 
ward Presence  to  His  disciples.  (5)  It  was  distinctively 
eucharistic :  though  instituted  on  the  sad  night  of  the  Be- 
trayal, yet  full  of  the  joyous  spirit  of  thanksgiving  .  .  106-112 
Henceforth  the  Sacrifice  of  Christ  was  continuous,  —  the 

unending  Sacrifice  of  Divine  Love 113 

Through  union  with  Christ  His  disciples  join  with  Him  in  the 
Eucharist  of  Heaven. 

Distinction  between  Christ's  part  and  man's  part  in  the 
Eucharist. 
Christ  alone  is  the  Priest  Who  offers,  and  the  Lamb  Who 

is  offered  in  Heaven 114 

While  Christ  offers  His  Body  and  Blood  in  Heaven,  we 

offer  bread  and  wine  on  earth. 

Christ  unites  our  offering  to  His  Offering,  and  makes  our 

bread  the  Bread  of  Life 115 

This  is  a  truth  of  Heaven,  and  therefore  a  mystery  to  us 

on  earth. 

While  Christ  is  present  with  us  on  earth,  we,  through  union 

with  Him,  are  lifted  up  into  the  Heavenly  Places,  and  join 

in  the  Worship  of  Heaven  itself 116-118 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  CHURCH  THE  BODY  OF  CHRIST 

Progressive  teaching  of  our  Lord  regarding  the  Kingdom  of 

Heaven 119 

Many  called,  but  not  all  choose  to  do  God's  Will. 
Therefore  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth  includes  both 
saints  and  sinners.     From  this  it  follows  that  it  is  outward 

and  visible  as  well  as  invisible 120 

The  Kingdom  is  centred  in  the  Person  of  Christ :  it  has 
no  existence  apart  from  Him.  —  Figure  of  the  Vine  and 

the  branches 121 

Christ's  teaching  cannot  be  understood  apart  from  the 
facts  of  His  Life :  —  these  also  inseparable  one  from 
another  .....         122 

Pentecost  the  Birthday  of  the  Church. 

The  Church  an  organism,  not  an  organization 123 

Its  life  centred  in  Christ  in  Heaven. 


CONTENTS  XXIU 

Page 

It  is  inspired  by  the  Mind  of  Christ 124 

controlled  by  the  Will  of  Christ :  through  its  members 
Christ  continues  His  work  on  earth. 

Organic  life  and  unity  of  the  Church  inspired  St.  Paul  to  call 

it  the  "Body  of  Christ" 125 

Emphasis  laid  by  St.  Paul  on  this  analogy 126 

Contrast  between  this  conception  of  the  Church  and  the 

ordinary  Protestant  idea 127 

Abnormal  development  of  the  Church  idea  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  Modern  reaction  upholding  the  sacredness  of  per- 
sonality and  the  individual  life 128 

This  idea  in  turn  has  been  unduly  emphasized;  sins  of 
heresy  and  schism  ignored       129 

Divergence  of  views  arises  from  different  conceptions,  not  of 
the  Church,  but  of  Christ  Himself. 

All  difficulties  regarding  the  visible  Church  solved  by  a  right 

understanding  of  the  Incarnation '   .     .     .     .       130 

Brotherhood  and  co-operation  in.the  Church  of  Christ     ...       132 
The  Body  of  Christ  visible  as  well  as  invisible. 
"  By  one  Spirit  we  are  all  baptized  into  one  Body  "...       133 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE   VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH 

Importance  of  this  subject,  and  our  Lord's  anticipation  of  the 

Church's  need 134 

I 
The  Comforter  to  take  the  place  of  Christ's  earthly  Presence  .       135 
Our  Lord,  after  His  Ascension,  not  separated  from  His 

Apostles,  but  they  from  Him 135 

Hence  the  need  of  a  Vicar  of  Christ  on  earth 136 

Our  Lord's  promise  to  the  Apostles  fulfilled  at  Pentecost 

Significance  of  the  word  "  Paraclete  " 138 

Belief  of  the  Fathers. 

Doctrine  substituted  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

II 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  to  be  invisible 

The  reasons  for  this ^^38-139 


XXIV  CONTENTS 

III 

Page 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  not  to  speak  of  Himself 140 

No  further  outward  Revelation. 

Office  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ  to  interpret  Christ's  Words    .  141 

Progress   in  comprehension  of  the   Faith,  but  not  in   the 

Faith  itself 142 

The  Holy  Scriptures  contain  all.necessary  doctrines      .     .  142 

Contrast  between  the  human  and  Divine  Vicar     ....  143 

IV 
Influence  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ  upon  the  outside  world. 

Christianity  and  Civilization 144 

Possibility  of  Salvation  outside  the  visible  Church  not  to 

be  denied 145 

V 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  to  bring  Christ  to  remembrance     .     .     .  i45-i'46 
This  effected  through  the  Scriptures 
Neglect  of  the  Scriptures,  as  history  shows,  always  due 

to  some  abnormal  disturbing  influence 147 

Effect  of  the  invention  of  printing  in  hastening  the  Refor- 
mation           148 

The  doctrine  of  verbal  inspiration  substituted  by  Protes- 
tants for  Roman  Catholic  teaching  regarding  an  infallible 

Vicar  of  Christ 148 

Both  Romanist  and  Protestant  forgetful  of  the  higher  truth       149 

VI 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  to  glorify  Christ 150 

Teaching  of  the  Epistles  regarding  Christ's  glorilied 
Humanity.  —  Their  triumphant  joyous  character  in  conse- 
quence of  this 152 

This  conception  of  the  glorified  Christ  imperfectly  recog- 
nized by  both  Romanists  and  Protestants      153 

Consequent  erroneous  doctrines 154 

VH 

The  Vicar  of  Christ,  the  Spirit  of  Truth 154 

(i)  Truth  in  the  individual 

{2)  in  the  history  of  the  Church 155 

The  Papacy  and  truthfulness 156 

Human  craving  for  infallible  authority 157 


CONTENTS  XXV 

Page 
Attraction  of  the  kind  of  authority  the  Church  of  Rome 
offers. —  Positive  truth  in  essentials  not  dependent  on  a 

human  vicar 158 

The  Holy  Spirit  the  infallible  Guide. 

This  doctrine  not  inconsistent  with  regard  for  Church 
authority. 

VIII 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  the  Comforter. 

Meaning  of  the  word  "  comfort  "  as  used  by  Christ  .     .     .       160 
Distinctive  type  of  character  developed  by  constant  depend- 
ence on  an  unseen  Spirit  of  Truth  and  Fortitude  ....       161 

IX 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  the  Spirit  of  Unity 162 

Christ  Himself  the  centre  of  unity  between  God  and  man. 
Christ's  oneness  with  the  Father: —  and  with  His  disciples. 
—  Through  union  with  Him  they  are  made  one  with  each 
other 163 

Basis  of  Christian  unity  lies  in  the  Incarnation. 
It  must  be  both  natural  and  spiritual. 

Unscriptural  idea  of  spiritual  as  opposed  to  organic  unity        163 
St.  Paul's  teaching  regarding  the  oneness  of  the  Church    .       1G4 
Essentials  of  unity  in  the  Church  all  centre,  through  the 
power  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  Ascended  Christ 166 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE    APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION 

I 

Indications  in  the  New  Testament  of  an  Apostolic  Ministry     .       167 
Institution  of  the  order  of  Deacons. 

Further  extension  of  the  ministry  in  the  order  of  Elders  or 
Priests 169 

St.  James  the  Lord's  brother  and  his  office  in  the  Church    .     .       170 
Evidence  that  he  was  not  one  of  the  Twelve  Apostles   .     .       171 

St.  James,  the  first  Bishop  of  Jerusalem 174 

Answers  to  objections: — (i)  that  he  only  exercised  the 
same   authority  as   the  other  Apostles  ;    (2)  that  he  was 

merely  a  presiding  Elder 176 

Conclusive  evidence  of  the  Fathers  upon  the  subject     .     .       177 


XXVI  CONTENTS 

Page 

Influence  of  St.  John  and  his  disciples  upon  the  organization 

of  the  Churches  of  Asia  Minor     .........    177-178 

The  Episcopate  not  a  later  development  of  the  Ministry       .     .       179 
Episcopal  supervision  exercised  by  St.  Paul 180 

II 

New  Testament  teaching  on  the  transmission  of  authority    .     .  181 

Illustrated  in  the  choice  of  St.  Matthias 182 

The  principle  of  transmission  of  authority  not  questioned 

for  fifteen  hundred  years 183 

Objections   raised   against  it  :  —  these  not  warranted  by 

Scripture 184 

Teaching  of  the  Anglican  Prayer  Book 185 

III 

Moral  and  spiritual  force  derived  from  belief  in  the  Apostolic 

Succession 186 

Higher  ideals  :   (i)  of  the  Ministry  itself;   (2)  of  Ministe- 
rial responsibility  ;  (3)  of  responsibiUty  in  teaching  .  '.     ,       189 

Belief  in  the  Historic  Episcopate  essential  to  Church  unity. 

Meaning  of  the  term 191 

IV 

Subordinate  offices  in  the  early  Church  not  involving  transmis- 
sion of  authority 192 

Many  unmistakably  called  to  do  individual  work  without 
ministerial  authority  to  transmit  their  functions     ....       193 

Difference  between  Churchmen  and  other  Christian  Bodies  in 
their  views  of  ministerial  functions  and  authority. 
How  these  may  be  harmonized 194 

CHAPTER   IX 

CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM 

Prejudice  existing  against  the  term  Sacerdotalism 195 

Common    objections,  —  from    history;  from    the   absence 

of  the  term  in  the  New  Testament 196 

Is  there  a  true  Christian  Sacerdotalism  ? 197 

Origin  and  universality  of  the  idea  of  Priesthood  and  Sacrifice. 
Perversions  of  the  idea  of  Sacerdotalism  no  argument 
against  a  true  conception  of  it 198-199 


CONTENTS  XXVll 

II  Page 

The  Jewish  Priesthood  otdained  by  God 199 

Jews   taught   that   the  blood  of  the    prescribed  sacrifices 

represented  life 200 

Imperfect  and  temporary  character  of  these  sacrifices. 

Fulfilment  of  the  Priestly  ideal  in  Christ 201 

III 

Christ  the  ideal  Priest :  (i)  because  His  Priesthood  was  inher- 
ent (thus  differing  from  that  of  the  Jewish  priests);  (2) 
It  was  revealed  in  His  Life  ;  (3)  in  His  ideal  Sacrifice ;  (4) 
in  the  exercise  of  His  Heavenly  Priesthood;  (5)  in  the 
power  of  Divine  self-sacrifice 201-204 

Self-sacrifice  the  law  of  Love 205 

IV 

The  union  of  Christ  and  His  Church 206 

The  Church  the  Body  of  Christ 207 

Hence  if  Christ  is  Priest  the  Church  is  priestly     ....  207 
Testimony  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John  to  this  truth      .     .     .  208 
The  priesthood  of  the  laity  ;  its  responsibilities  and  privi- 
leges          .....  208 

V 

Priesthood  of  the  clergy  in  the  Apostolic  Ministry 209 

The  Christian  Priesthood  representative,  not  Mediatorial     .     .       210 
Canon  Moberly  on  the  true  idea  of  the  Priesthood. 

VI 
Teaching  of  the  New  Testament  regarding  Christian  Priesthood      216 
Why  the    term    "priest"  was   not    applied   to    Christian 

Ministers  in  the  New  Testament 217 

The   doctrine    of   Priesthood   and    Sacrifice    emphatically 
taught 218 

VII 
The  real  power  of  the  Priesthood  is  Self-Sacrifice 221 


CHAPTER   X 

THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH 

The  Bible  and  the  Church  inseparable  as  standards  of  appeal  .       223 
The  Apostles  charged  by  our  Lord  both  to  minister  the 


XXVIU  CONTENTS 

Page 
Word,  and   to   make   members   of  the    Church   through 

Baptism 225 

The  Gospels  perpetuate  the  witness  of  the  Apostles  to 
Christ,  —  the  Epistles  perpetuate  the  message  of  the 
Ascended  Christ  to  His  Church. 

Consequent  interdependence  of  the  Church  and  the  New 
Testament 226 

The  New  Testament  the  Witness  for  the  Faith  of  the  early- 
Apostolic  Church.  —  Use  and  influence  of  the  Bible  in  the 

early  Church 227 

Suspension  of  certain  Church  activities  in  the  Middle  Ages 

in  consequence  of  the  Barbarian  invasions 229 

Historical  sketch  of  the  English  Bible 230-232 

Recognition  of   the  Authority  of  Holy  Scripture  one  of   the 

essential  conditions  for  the  reunion  of  Christendom  .     .     .       233 

The  teaching  of  the  Prayer  Book  regarding  the  Bible : 

(i)  It  enjoins  continuous  reading  of  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, both  in  public  and  private;  (2)  the  teaching  of 
the  Ordination  offices ;  (3)  the  Ministry  of  the  Word  in 
Preaching  ;  (4)  special  admonition  of  the  Clergy  on  this 
point.  —  Knowledge  of  the  Bible  necessary  for  faithful 
preaching  234-238 

The  Anglican  Church  the  chief  present  Defender  of  the  Bible 

in  Western  Christendom 240 

CHAPTER  XI 

PUBLIC   WORSHIP    IN   NEW   TESTAMENT   DAYS 

Reasons  for  comparative  silence  of  the  New  Testament  re- 
garding the  accessories  of  public  worship  and  the  external 
ordinances  of  Christianity 242 

Certain  definite  customs  of   the  early  Apostolic  Church  are, 
however,  disclosed. 
Prayer,  and  the  **  Breaking  of  Bread  " 243 

I 

The  Worship  of  the  Temple. 

The  ideal  of  a  House  of  Prayer  for  all  Nations  as  set  forth 

by  Christ  Himself 245 

Need  of  the  Church  at  the  present  day  to  strive  more 
earnestly  after  this  ideal       246 


CONTENTS  XXIX 

Page 
Prayer  the  one  thing  needful  to  sanctify  Christian  Worship 
Influence  of  real  prayer  in  the  Church 247 

II 

The  "  Breaking  of  Bread  "  the  distinctive  Christian  service       .       248 
The   only  service  of   public  worship  ordained  by  Christ 

Himself 249 

Names  of  the  Holy  Communion 

Meaning  of  the  service  ;  its  power 250 

Early  Christian  Liturgies  :  —  their  agreement  in  essential 
details  regarding  the  Celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist     .       251 
The  Lambeth  declaration  in  regard  to  the  conditions  for 
its  valid  administration 252 

III 

The  Holy  Eucharist  in  the  early  Apostolic  Church. 

Celebrated  on  every  Lord's  Day 253-255 

IV 

Since  the  Reformation  the  Eucharist  no  longer  made  the  chief 

service  on  the  Lord's  Day 257 

Consequences  of  this  change  from  primitive  practice. 

(i)  Spiritual  education  of  communicants  neglected.  .     .     .       258 

(2)  Non-communicants  rendered  careless   and  indifferent 

to  sacramental  doctrine 259 

(3)  Lowering  of  the  Church's  standards 261 

V 

The    Church   cannot    convert    the    world    by    compromising 

with  it 262 

Present  need  not  so  much  increase  in  Jiambers,  as  in  spirit- 
ual power  among  the  few 263 

Influence  of  the  Eucharist  on  the  lives  of  communicants.  .     .     .       264 
Communions  of  the  Primitive  Church  compared  with  those 
of  the  present  day 265 

Similarity  between  Anglican  and  Primitive  precedent. 

Communion  office  of   the  Prayer  Book  and  Eucharistic 
Celebrations  of  the  Early  Church 266 

The  test  of  true  worship  : 

it   must    combine   the   moral,   spiritual,    and    intellectual 
faculties 267 


XXX  CONTENTS 

VI 

Page 

Balance  preserved  in  the  Anglican  Church  between  the  Min- 
istry of  the  Word  and  of  the  Sacraments      268 

High  ideal  of  the  Prayer  Book  violated  by  separating  the 
Ante-Communion  and  sermon  from  the  Communion  itself 

Eucharistic  service  for  Communicants  should  be  again  made 

the  chief  service  of  the  Lord's  Day 269 

This  would  be  a  witness  to  non-communicants  of  a  higher 
life  from  which  they  wilfully  exclude  themselves  .... 
Inspiring  effect  of  such  a  service  on  the  Communicants 
themselves 270 


New    Testament    Churchmanship 


CHAPTER   I 

THE   VIRGIN    BIRTH   OF    CHRIST 

ALL  visions  of  earthly  empires  and  all  the  mem- 
orable events  of  the  historic  past  sink  into  the 
dim  background,  when  we  stand  before  the  manger 
of  Bethlehem  and  hear  angels  from  Heaven  pro- 
claiming the  glad  tidings  of  a  Saviour's  birth. 

By  a  gravitation  of  human  thought,  which  seems 
to  have  been  irresistible,  the  leading  nations  of  the 
earth  have  accepted  that  event  as  the  dividing  point 
between  ancient  and  modern  history  ;  as  regulating 
the  chronology  of  the  civilized  world;  as  mark- 
ing an  epoch  to  which  the  whole  ancient  world,  de- 
siring the  Desire  of  Nations,  looked  forward ;  and 
to  which  the  whole  modern  world,  beholding  the 
mysterious,  irresistible  power  of  Jesus  Christ  over 
the  nations,  looks  back. 

The  Birth  of  Christ  marks  also,  most  significantly, 
the  division  between  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
those  two  revelations  of  Jehovah  to  man,  wherein 
"  God,  having  of  old  time  spoken  to  the  fathers  in 
the  prophets  in  many  parts  and  in  many  modes,  spake 


2  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

unto  us  in  the  end  of  these  days  in  His  Son."^  And 
as  the  Old  Testament  began  with  God's  story  of 
that  first  Adam,  who  became  "  a  Hving  soul,"  so  the 
New  Testament  commences  with  the  Gospel  of  the 
Second  Adam,  Who  became  "  a  life-giving  spirit." 
As  the  former  book  discloses  to  us  how  the  first 
man  is  "  of  the  earth,  earthy,"  and  how  from  him  are 
born,  by  natural  generation,  a  race  of  earthly  descend- 
ants who  are  bone  of  his  bone,  flesh  of  his  flesh, 
and  blood  of  his  blood ;  so  the  latter  reveals  how  the 
Second  Man  is  from  Heaven,  and  how  all  who, 
through  Him,  become  children  of  God,  are  descended 
from  Him  by  supernatural  generation,  being  born 
again,  ''  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor 
of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

Later  on  we  shall  endeavor  to  show  how  this  scrip- 
tural contrast  between  the  first  and  second  Adam 
interprets  the  meaning  of  the  Incarnation,  but  as  this 
cannot  be  rightly  understood  apart  from  belief  in  the 
Virgin  Birth  of  Christ  it  will  be  necessary  first  to  fix 
our  attention  upon  His  Nativity;  for  probably  since 
the  Christian  era  began  there  has  never  been  a  time 
when  the  disposition  and  tendency  to  doubt  the 
scriptural  fact  of  Christ's  miraculous  birth  has  been 
so  strong  as  it  is  to-day. 

The  objections  raised  are,  to  many  of  us,  twice-told 
tales.  It  is  said  that  the  event  is  recorded  in  only 
two  of  the  four  Gospels ;  that  it  is  referred  to  in  but 
one  prophecy  of  the  Old  Testament  and  that  this  one 
is  of  very  uncertain  interpretation;  that  there  is  no 
mention  of  it  whatever  in  the  Epistles  of  the  New 
Testament,  or  even  in  the  Gospels  themselves,  after 

1  Westcott  on  Heb.  i.  i. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF   CHRIST  -> 

the  opening  chapters  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke  ; 
and  that  therefore  it  must  have  been  a  later  addition 
to  the  Gospel  history,  which  arose  either  as  a  myth 
or  a  legend.  It  is,  furthermore,  objected  that  the 
Virgin  Birth  of  Christ  is  a  wholly  unnecessary  miracle, 
which,  so  far  from  strengthening  the  Gospel  nar- 
rative, really  weakens  its  force;  and  that,  even  if 
the  fact  is  accepted  by  believers,  it  is  of  no  theo- 
logical importance  whatever,  adding  nothing  to  the 
sublime  truths  that  are  emphasized  elsewhere  in  the 
Gospels  and  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament;  and 
some  even  go  so  far  as  to  maintain  and  believe  that 
they  can  omit  this  part  of  the  Gospel  story  without 
detriment  to  the  rest,  or  without  altering  their  atti- 
tude as  orthodox  believers  in  the  Christian  religion. 


I 

In  answer  to  these  objections  we  must,  first  of  all, 
remember  that  the  account  of  Christ's  miraculous 
birth  cannot  be  dropped  from  the  inspired  records 
without  destroying  the  integrity  of  the  whole  Gospel 
history  as  it  has  been  handed  down  to  us.  If  it  be 
said  that  this  account  appears  in  only  two  of  the 
Gospels,  let  us  remember  that  only  two  of  the  Gos- 
pels record  the  Ascension.  If  it  be  argued  that 
the  passages  regarding  Christ's  Nativity  can  be  left 
out  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke  without  impairing 
the  harmony  of  the  rest  of  their  narratives,  we  would 
point  out  that,  by  the  same  arbitrary  criticism,  the 
account  of  the  Ascension,  given  by  St.  Mark  and  St. 
Luke,  can  be  eliminated  without  doing  violence  to 
the  context ;   for  the  intervening  portions  are  equally 


4  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

silent  regarding  both  events.  Nay,  we  might  go  a 
step  farther  even  than  this.  With  the  exception  of 
a  few  prophecies  from  the  Hps  of  Christ,  there  is  no 
reference  to  the  Resurrection  itself  in  the  three  Syn- 
optic Gospels,  before  its  actual  occurrence.  Strike 
out  these  detached  prophecies,  which  might,  with 
equal  plausibility,  be  regarded  as  subsequent  addi- 
tions, and,  on  the  same  principle  on  which  the  account 
of  the  Nativity  is  dropped  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Gospel  history,  that  of  the  Resurrection,  as  well  as 
of  the  Ascension,  could  be  omitted  from  its  end.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  narrative  of  the  miraculous  birth 
of  Christ  (including  that  of  the  visit  of  the  Magi  and 
of  the  nativity  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  with  which 
it  is  inseparably  interwoven)  occupies  almost  as 
large  a  place  in  the  Gospel  as  the  combined  records 
of  His  Resurrection  and  Ascension;  while  all  three 
together — the  Nativity,  Resurrection,  and  Ascension 
—  are  less  than  a  third  as  long  as  the  account  of 
Christ's  Passion  and  Crucifixion.  If  it  be  answered 
here  that  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension  were  mi- 
raculous events,  so  wholly  unexpected  in  human  his- 
tory that  there  could  be  no  direct  reference  to  them 
before  their  actual  occurrence,  we  would  ask  the 
objectors  to  face  the  bearings  of  this  same  argu- 
ment on  the  other  side,  The  miraculous  birth  of 
Christ  was,  likewise,  an  event  so  wholly  unexpected 
in  human  history,  that,  after  its  actual  occurrence, 
the  Christians  of  New  Testament  times  were  held 
back  by  an  awe-inspiring  consciousness  of  mystery 
and  the  delicacy  of  a  sacred  reserve  from  communi- 
cating the  whole  truth  of  Christ's  Virgin  Birth  in 
their  preaching  of  the  Gospel   to   their  Jewish  con- 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  5 

temporaries  and  adversaries  in  the  outside  world. 
Indeed,  it  was  not  until  after  Christ  rose  from  the 
dead  and  ascended  to  Heaven  that  the  real  reason 
and  necessity  for  His  miraculous  birth  could  be  fully 
appreciated  even  by  His  disciples  themselves. 

The  Gospels,  of  course,  were  written  after  this 
date;  written  by  men  who  were  overshadowed  by 
the  consciousness  that  He  Whose  earthly  life  they 
were  portraying  was  not  only  their  reigning  King 
in  Heaven,  but  that  He  was  'AXrjOeia,  —  Ideal  Truth. 
Dominated  and  inspired  by  this  consciousness,  the 
authors  of  the  four  Gospels  have  written  their  records 
with  a  conciseness,  a  straightforward  artlessness,  a 
transparent  truthfulness  and  simplicity  of  style,  a  con- 
spicuous absence  of  praise  or  censure,  of  comment 
or  attempt  at  amplification,  which  is  unique  in  the 
annals  of  all  literature.  And  the  same  characteristics 
which  mark  the  other  parts  of  the  Gospel  narratives 
are  to  be  observed  in  the  accounts  of  Christ's  mirac- 
ulous birth.  Though  these  were  written  after  He 
had  ascended  to  Heaven,  it  was  providentially  or- 
dered by  God  that  the  event  itself  should  be  in- 
scribed on  the  Gospel  page  before  the  first  generation 
of  Christians  had  passed  away,  for  St.  Matthew  was 
one  of  Christ's  own  chosen  apostles,  in  the  days  of  His 
Ministry,  while  St.  Luke  carries  us  back  even  further 
still,  to  the  very  commencement  of  the  Gospel  times, 
for  he  says  that  he  gained  his  information  from  those 
who  "from  the  beginning  zveve  eye-witnesses^  and  min- 
isters of  the  word!'  ^  He  does  not  mention  who  these 
persons  were.  Whether  they  were  Zacharias  and 
Elizabeth,  or  those  of  their  neighbors  who  dwelt  **  in 

1  St.  Luke  i.  2. 


6  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

the  hill-country  of  Judaea,"  ^  or  the  shepherds  of 
Bethlehem,  or  the  Virgin  Mary  herself,  he  does  not 
say  ;  but  certainly,  if  they  were  not  these  they  must 
have  been  **  eye-witnesses  and  ministers  of  the  word," 
who  ''from  the  beginning"  were  intimately  ac- 
quainted, not  only  with  the  events  preceding  Christ's 
birth,  but  with  that  little  circle  of  God's  saints  whose 
names  appear  in  the  first  two  chapters  of  St.  Luke's 
Gospel ;  for  the  narrative  lifts  us  up  above  the  level 
of  mere  tradition  or  legend.  Though  it  has  the 
poetic  fervor  of  the  ancient  Jewish  prophets,  it  soars 
higher  than  poetry.  It  has  that  severe  brevity  which 
characterizes  the  rest  of  the  Gospel  history.  It 
breathes  that  atmosphere  of  simplicity  and  truthful- 
ness, of  fervent  praise  and  lowly  humility,  of  Christ- 
like purity  and  refinement  of  thought,  which  belongs 
only  to  those  unworldly  and  pure-hearted  men  and 
women  who  know  God.  These  characteristics  of  the 
sacred  record  have  scarcely  received  the  attention 
that  they  deserve,  at  the  hands  of  Biblical  scholars. 
If  the  narrative  of  Christ's  Nativity  is  dropped  from 
the  Gospel  page,  a  vision  of  exquisite  purity,  which 
has  enthralled  the  hearts  and  refined  the  souls  of 
men  all  through  the  Christian  era,  will  be  gone,  and 
the  world  will  be  the  poorer  forever  after. 

The  record  begins  with  the  message  of  an  angel 
to  Zacharias  regarding  a  son  to  be  born  unto  him, 
who  shall  go  before  the  coming  Messiah,  ''  in  the 
spirit  and  power  of  Elijah;  "  then  follows  the  an- 
nunciation of  the  same  angel,  Gabriel,  to  the  Virgin 
Mary  herself,  foretelling  both  the  miraculous  birth 
of  the  Son  of  God,  and  also  the  nativity  of  St.  John 

1  St.  Luke  i.  65. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  7 

the  Baptist.  After  the  departure  of  the  angel,  Mary, 
following  a  natural,  spontaneous,  and  womanly  im- 
pulse, arose  with  haste,  went  into  the  hill-country 
of  Judaea,  and  entered  into  the  house  of  the  aged 
Elizabeth,  her  saintly  and  revered  cousin.  The  nar- 
rative tells  how,  on  the  very  threshold,  Elizabeth, 
moved  alike  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  the  intuitions  of  womanly  sympathy,  greeted  her 
with  the  words,  "  Blessed  art  thou  among  women, 
and  blessed  is  the  fruit  of  thy  womb.  And  whence 
is  this  to  me,  that  the  mother  of  my  Lord  should 
come  unto  me?"^  and  then  records  that  the  young 
Virgin  Mary  abode  in  the  house  of  Zacharias  and 
Elizabeth  about  three  months,  when  she  returned  to 
her  own  home  at  Nazareth.  Supplementing  this 
history  with  St.  Matthew's  entirely  separate  and  dis- 
tinct account  of  the  angel  that  appeared  unto  Joseph 
in  a  dream,  announcing  unto  him  the  conception  of  a 
Son  of  Mary  "Who  should  save  His  people  from 
their  sins,"  we  discover  that  there  were,  at  least,  four 
saintly  persons  who  expected  the  miraculous  birth  of 
Christ  before  His  actual  Nativity,  —  Zacharias  and 
Joseph,  Elizabeth,  and  the  Virgin  Mary  herself. 

Then  follows  a  description  of  the  Birth  of  Christ 
at  Bethlehem,  which  is  as  remarkable  for  what  it  does 
not  record  as  for  that  which  it  narrates.  For  if  there 
were  any  prepossession  or  predisposition  in  the  Jewish 
mind  regarding  their  coming  Messiah,  it  was  the 
fixed  idea  that  He  was  to  appear  as  a  temporal 
monarch,  whose  glory  should  eclipse  that  of  Solomon 
and  whose  power  should  exceed  that  of  the  Roman 
empire.     When  we  contrast  the  reality  itself  with  all 

1  St.  Luke  i.  42,  43. 


8  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

these  fervent  anticipations,  we  cannot  discover  one 
point  of  correspondence.  We  read,  indeed,  of  a 
vision  of  angels,  singing  in  the  starHt  skies,  "  Glory 
to  God  in  the  Highest,  and  on  earth,  peace,  good-will 
toward  men,"  but  in  all  other  respects  the  Nativity 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  commonplace  scene,  the  counter- 
part of  which,  in  general  details,  has  been  witnessed 
a  thousand  times  over  in  peasant  life  and  homes  of 
poverty,  especially  in  oriental  countries.  When  we 
apply  to  the  narrative  the  searching  tests  of  nine- 
teenth century  thought  and  try  it  by  the  principles 
of  modern  criticism,  we  are  struck  not  so  much  by 
the  appearance  of  the  angels,  as  by  the  fact  that,  side 
by  side  with  this  vision,  there  should  not  have  been 
other  miraculous  signs,  which,  if  the  record  is  not 
a  plain  report  of  actual  fact,  human  imagination 
would  have  been  far  more  apt  to  insert;  converting 
the  commonplace  scene  into  one  of  earthly  splendor, 
and  changing  the  stable  into  a  palace  or  church,  the 
village  inn  into  traditional  holy  ground,  the  manger 
into  an  altar  of  Heaven,  and  the  speechless,  helpless 
Babe  into  a  transfigured,  miracle-working  Prince  of 
Peace.  If  the  angels  with  their  messages  from  Heaven, 
preceding  and  following  Christ's  birth  and  bearing 
witness  to  His  Virgin  Birth  are  fictions,  created  by 
the  devout  imaginations  of  the  faithful,  then  the  same 
imaginative  tendencies  which  conjured  up  these  vis- 
ions would  have  led  on,  inevitably  and  irresistibly,  to 
the  invention  of  these  other  miraculous  signs  ;  and  if, 
in  turn,  such  other  signs  had  been  superadded,  then 
the  reality  of  Christ's  human  condition,  of  His  suf- 
ferings and  temptations  —  yes,  of  His  very  manhood 
itself —  would  have  been   abrogated  ;    and    thus   the 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  9 

story  of  His  Nativity,  like  those  of  the  childhood  of 
Christ  that  are  told  in  the  spurious  gospels,  would 
have  been  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  other  parts  of 
the  New  Testament  narrative,  and  the  integrity  of  the 
Gospels  would  have  been  destroyed.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  absence  of  the  miraculous  is  a  marked 
feature  of  the  story  itself.  The  herald  angel  an- 
nounces to  the  shepherds :  **  TJiis  shall  be  a  sign 
unto  you.  Ye  shall  find  the  Babe  wrapped  in  swad- 
dling clothes,  lying  in  a  manger.^  The  only  miracu- 
lous part  is  the  angel's  own  words.  And  if  the 
angelic  visions  and  messages  themselves  are  objected 
to,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  such  appearances  are  in 
perfect  harmony  with  all  the  rest  of  the  Gospel  his- 
tory, in  which  it  is  recorded  that  angels  appeared 
also  after  Christ's  Temptation,  on  the  day  of  His 
Resurrection,  and  at  the  time  of  His  Ascension. 

Leaving  the  synoptics,  let  us  now  turn  to  the  re- 
cord of  St.  John.  It  is  often  said  that  the  fourth 
Gospel  is  absolutely  silent  regarding  the  Nativity  of 
Christ :  if  so,  it  is  no  less  silent  concerning  His  Ascen- 
sion, His  institution  of  the  Eucharist,  His  commission 
to  the  Apostles  regarding  Baptism  and  other  important 
events  that  the  synoptics  record.  Indeed,  this  is  St. 
John's  method  ;  and  it  is  an  indication  of  the  later 
origin  of  his  Gospel.  Yet  the  omission  is,  in  almost 
every  instance,  supplied  and  compensated  for  by 
indirect  references  of  the  strongest  kind. 

So  also  is  it  with  regard  to  the  Nativity.  Though 
St.  John's  narrative,  unlike  those  of  St.  IMatthew  and 
St.  Luke,  has  at  its  beginning  no  account  of  the  mi- 
raculous birth  of  Christ,  yet  there  is  a  passage  in  the 
1  St.  Luke  ii.  12. 


lO  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

first  chapter  of  the  fourth  Gospel  which  cannot  be 
interpreted  as  setting  forth  the  full  and  complete 
meaning  of  the  Incarnation,  unless  it  be  taken  as 
referring  directly  to  Christ's  Virgin  Birth.  Of  Christ, 
the  Light  of  the  world,  the  Apostle  writes :  *'  He  was 
in  the  world,  and  the  world  was  made  by  Him,  and 
the  world  knew  Him  not.  He  came  unto  His  own, 
and  His  own  received  Him  not;  but  as  many  as  re- 
ceived Him,  to  them  gave  He  the  right  (Suz^a/xt?)  to 
become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  which  believe 
on  His  name :  whicJi  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of 
the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  bnt  of 
God}  Then  he  adds,  in  closest  juxtaposition:  "And 
the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us,  and 
we  beheld  His  glory  (the  glory  as  of  the  only  be- 
gotten of  the  Father),  full  of  grace  and  truth."  ^ 
The  doctrine  here  set  forth  by  St.  John  is  that 
Christ,  the  Word  of  God,  "  by  Whom  all  things  were 
made,  and  without  Whom  was  not  anything  made  that 
was  made,"  at  last,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  came  into 
the  world  and  became  the  Head  of  a  new  race  of 
men.  Taking  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  verses 
of  the  first  chapter  of  his  Gospel  together  (as  we  are 
obliged,  by  the  context,  to  do),  St.  John  tells  us  that 
it  was  not  before  but  after  Christ,  the  Word  of  God, 
became  flesh,  that  He,  as  the  Second  Adam,  gave 
the  power  or  right  to  those  who  received  Him  to  be- 
come immortal  children  of  God.  If,  therefore,  the 
only  begotten  Son  of  God,  through  His  luearnation, 
regenerates  believers  in  body  and  soul  and  makes 
them  sons  of  God  by  a  new  birth  from  above,  then  it 
follows,  inevitably,  that  He,  the  Progenitor,  "  the  Word 

1  St.  John  i.  10-13.  2  St.  John  i.  14. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  I  I 

made  flesh,"  as  well  as  those  to  whom  He  gives 
power  to  become  sons,  must  be  born,  **  not  of  blood, 
nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man, 
but  of  God."  Nay,  it  is  absolutely  inconceivable  to 
any  theologian,  who  has  a  right  understanding  of  the 
meaning  and  purpose  of  the  Incarnation  of  Christ, 
that  St.  John  could  have  written  words  like  these, 
had  he  believed  that  Christ  was  the  earthborn  off- 
spring of  human  parents.  It  must  have  been  nothing 
less  than  the  consciousness  of  the  miraculous  birth  of 
Christ,  —  "  not  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of 
man,  but  of  God,"  —  and  the  illumination  which  his 
mind  had  received  regarding  the  profound  meaning 
of  that  event,  which  inspired  him  to  place  this  pas- 
sage in  the  forefront  of  his  Gospel.  As  Bishop 
Westcott  well  says  :  "  The  fact  of  the  miraculous  con- 
ception, though  not  stated,  is  necessarily  implied  by 
the  Evangelist.  The  coming  of  the  Word  into  flesh 
is  presented  as  a  creative  act  in  the  same  way  as  the 
coming  of  all  things  into  being  was.^ 

Again,  Joseph  and  the  Virgin  Mary,  we  read,  were 
themselves  dwellers  in  Nazareth  both  before  and 
after  Christ's  birth.^  The  visit  to  Bethlehem  was 
only  temporary.  They  returned  to  Nazareth  very 
shortly  after  Christ's  birth,  and  we  all  know  that 
when  our  Lord's  public  ministry  began,  thirty  years 
later.  He  was  universally  regarded  by  the  Jews  as  a 
native  of  Nazareth ;  nor  is  there  anything  in  the 
synoptic  Gospels,  after  the  account  of  his  Nativity  and 
the  visit  of  the  Magi,  to  show  that  He  was  not  so.  In- 
deed, so  prevalent  was  the  belief,  that  Pilate  affixed 

1  Westcott's  Commentary  on  St.  John  i.  14. 

2  See  St.  Luke  i.  26,  56;  ii.  4,  etc. 


12  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

to  the  cross  itself  the  title:  "Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the 
King  of  the  Jews."  In  view  of  this  fact,  it  is  note- 
worthy that  the  single  reference  to  the  real  place  of 
Christ's  birth,  in  those  after  years,  is  to  be  found  not 
in  St.  Matthew  or  St.  Luke,  who  record  His  Nativity, 
but  in  the  Fourth  Gospel,  which  omits  it.  It  is  St. 
John  alone  who  tells  us  that  those  Jews  who  were 
disposed  to  accept  Jesus  as  the  Christ  found  a 
stumbling-block  in  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Nazarene;  ^ 
it  is  in  St.  John's  Gospel  alone  that  we  read  of  those 
stormy  discussions  among  the  Jews  themselves,  in 
the  last  year  of  Christ's  life,  in  which  while  some 
said  "Is  not  this  the  Christ?"  others  answered: 
"Shall  Christ  come  out  of  Galilee?  Hath  not  the 
Scripture  said  that  Christ  cometh  of  the  Seed  of 
David,  and  out  of  the  town  of  Bethlehem,  where  David 
was?"^  Here  we  find  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
after  a  lapse  of  thirty  years,  quoting  the  same  ancient 
prophecy  regarding  the  birthplace  of  the  Messiah 
to  which  the  doctors  of  the  law  had  pointed  when 
the  Magi  came  to  Herod,  asking  where  Christ  should 
be  born.^  This  indicates  how  prominent  a  place  the 
words  of  the  Prophet  Micah  occupied  in  the  Jewish 
mind,  in  the  time  of  Christ;  and  it  is  scarcely  possi- 
ble that  when  this  same  prophecy  was  adduced  by 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  as  a  proof  that  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth was  not  the  Christ,  St.  John  should  have  re- 
corded the  incident,  without  note  or  explanation,  had 
it  not  been  a  recognized  and  well-known  fact  among 
the  Christians  of  that  day  that  Christ  was  born  in 
Bethlehem.* 

1  St.  John  i.  46.        2  St.  John  vii.  41,  42.         ^  st.  Matt.  i.  6. 

*  It   may  seem  strange,  at  first  sight,  that  St.   John,  of  all  the 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  1 3 

Time  fails  to  pursue  this  branch  of  our  subject  any 
further;  but  enough,  we  trust,  has  been  adduced  to 
show  how  fully  one  Gospel  supplies  that  which  the 
others  take  for  granted,  and  how  all  stand  or  fall  to- 
gether as  a  whole.  If  we  apply  any  of  the  tests  of 
the  Higher  Criticism  which  are  now  regarded  as  so 
searching,  we  find  that  in  authenticit}%  in  credibility, 
in  integrity  and  style,  the  account  of  the  Nativity  of 
Christ  stands  upon  the  same  high  level  with  the  other 
parts  of  the  Gospel  narrative.  The  same  preposses- 
sion and  bias  of  mind  against  the  miraculous  which 
would  throw  doubt  upon  the  Virgin  Birth  of  Christ 
bring  equally  under  suspicion  the  whole  miraculous 
element  in  New  Testament  history  and  every  other 
passage  where  it  occurs.  Those  who,  yielding  to 
this  prepossession,  dismiss  the  first  chapters  of  St. 
Matthew  and  St.  Luke  as  spurious,  will  sooner  or 
later,  if  they  are  logical  and  consistent,  be  obliged, 
on  the  same  principles,  to  treat  all  the  other  great 
events  of  Christ's  life  in  the  same  way.     And  thus 

Apostles,  should  have  failed  to  hand  down  to  us,  in  place  of  such  in- 
direct references,  a  detailed  narrative  of  Christ's  Nativity  itself,  for, 
in  his  own  Gospel,  he  tells  us  that,  by  the  dying  charge  of  Christ  on 
the  cross  the  blessed  Virgin  was  left  to  the  care  of  "  the  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved,"  and  that,  "  from  that  hour,  that  disciple  took  her 
unto  his  own  home"  (St.  John  xix.  27);  but  when  we  think  of  the 
bond  of  union  that  had  been  cemented  between  them  by  Christ  Him- 
self in  those  words,  "  Behold  thy  son,  —  Behold  thy  mother  ;  "  when 
we  reflect  upon  that  sacred  companionship  and  upon  the  mutual  in- 
fluence of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  upon 
each  other's  life  and  thought;  when,  above  all,  we  remember  those 
characteristics  of  silent  pondering,  of  quiet  self-control  and  self-sac- 
rifice, of  delicate  reserve  and  sacred  humility,  which  appear,  from 
the  Gospel  narratives,  to  have  belonged  to  the  blessed  Virgin,  we 
can  see  reason  enough  why  her  name  and  her  connection  with 
Christ  appear  so  rarely  in  St.  John's  Gospel. 


14  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

the  whole  Gospel  history  must  inevitably,  in  the  end, 
lose  its  hold  upon  their  consciences  as  an  authorita- 
tive testimony  regarding  the  supernatural  facts  in  the 
life  of  the  incarnate  Son  of  God. 


II 

But  here  some  objector  will  answer:  ''I  am  com- 
pelled to  follow  truth,  wherever  it  leads,  whatever  it 
costs,  and  however  holy  and  revered  the  authority 
may  be  that  holds  me  back.  There  is  no  proof 
that  the  Gospels  were  actually  written  by  those 
whose  names  they  bear.  Even  granting  that  they 
were,  there  is  no  evidence  that  they  have  come  down 
to  us  in  the  form  in  which  they  were  originally 
transcribed.  The  Christians  in  the  first  and  second 
centuries  lived  in  an  uncritical  age,  and  two  hundred 
years  is  a  period  long  enough  for  the  insertion  of 
any  number  of  additions  to  the  original  four  Gospels, 
while  other  Gospels,  quite  as  trustworthy,  may  have 
been  lost,  which  may  yet  come  to  light.  What  if 
copies  of  St.  Matthew's  or  St.  Luke's  Gospels,  more 
ancient  than  those  we  possess,  should  be  recovered 
in  which  the  first  chapters  should  be  wanting?  Or 
an  additional  Gospel  should  be  found,  which  gives 
an  entirely  different  and  a  non-miraculous  account 
of  Christ's  birth?  "^ 

Objections  like  these  would  scarcely  deserve  con- 
sideration, and  we  would  not  venture  on  this  di- 
gression,   were   they    not    made   in    such  a  spirit  of 

^  The  writer  has,  time  and  again,  heard  these  very  objections 
made,  not  only  by  intelligent  and  well-educated  men,  but  also  by 
some  who  are  prominent  ministers  in  various  Christian  bodies. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  1 5 

sincerity  and  honesty,  by  men  who  have  neither  the 
time  to  investigate  and  see  for  themselves  how  httle 
foundation  there  is  for  their  objections,  nor  the 
opportunity  for  learning  the  real  facts.  Such  criti- 
cisms arise,  of  course,  from  the  trend  of  popular 
thought  and  the  bias  it  unconsciously  creates  in 
men's  minds,  but  they  are,  nevertheless,  an  illustra- 
tion of  how  the  human  imagination  can  be  as  un- 
critical and  undisciplined  on  the  side  of  scepticism  as 
on  that  of  credulity.  For  none  could  speak  thus 
except  objectors  unacquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  formation  of  the  Canon  of  the  New  Testament 
in  the  first  three  centuries;  or  critics  like  Baur  and 
the  author  of  **  Supernatural  Religion,"  who  are  so 
biassed  by  their  desire  to  prove  an  hypothesis  con- 
trary to  facts,  that  they  give  to  the  facts  themselves 
an  unnatural  interpretation.  It  is  true  that  the 
Christian  Church,  in  the  first  three  centuries,  had 
not  the  training  in  that  kind  of  criticism  which  char- 
acterizes the  biblical  scholars  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. It  would  be  an  anachronism  to  expect  this 
even  of  the  most  learned  and  exact  scholars  of  that 
day,  for  our  modern  method  of  criticism  is  the  result 
of  an  evolutionary  process  which  has  been  going  on 
for  centuries.  But  this  does  not  justify  us  in  stig- 
matizing the  first  three  centuries  as  '*  an  uncritical 
age;  "  for  the  scholars  of  the  early  church  were  just 
as  exact  in  following  their  own  methods  of  criticism 
as  we  are  in  prosecuting  ours.  And,  as  they  lived 
so  much  nearer  than  we  do  to  the  date  when  the 
original  documents  were  written,  their  advantages  for 
arriving  at  the  truth,  and  for  distinguishing  the  dif- 
ference between  true  and  spurious  documents,  were 


1 6  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

correspondingly  greater  than  our  own.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  Church  of  God  has  ahvays  felt  the  tre- 
mendous responsibility,  to  use  the  language  of  St. 
Paul,  of  being  "  the  Keeper  of  Holy  Writ,"  and  one 
has  but  to  read  the  writings  of  the  early  Fathers  and 
the  records  of  the  early  Councils  to  see  with  what 
earnest  solicitude,  careful  examination  and  sacred 
caution  the  inspired  records  of  the  New  Testament 
were  preserved  and  separated  from  other  contempo- 
raneous Christian  writings.  Any  one  who  is  familiar 
with  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  that  period  will  see 
at  a  glance  that,  in  those  days  of  the  gradual  forma- 
tion of  the  Canon  of  the  New  Testament,  the  feeling 
of  responsibility  in  the  Church  concerning  Holy  Writ 
was  far  greater  and  more  pressing  than  it  is,  or  can 
possibly  be,  now,  when  that  Canon  has  been  already 
formed  and  accepted.  Yet  the  Christians  of  the 
present  day  are  often  charged  with  assuming  an 
attitude  of  ultra  conservatism  regarding  the  Canon 
of  the  Bible ;  this  is  instructive  ;  it  is  an  outward 
indication  of  the  feeling  of  grave  responsibility  shared 
by  all  believers  in  common,  as  to  the  necessity  of 
protecting  and  guarding  the  Word  of  God.  If  it 
is  so  strong  in  these  days,  we  can  realize  what  its 
development  must  have  been  in  those  more  crucial 
times  when  that  Canon  was  in  the  process  of 
formation. 

Finally,  whatever  may  have  been  said  fifty  years 
ago  as  to  the  additions  made  to  the  original  docu- 
ments in  the  second  century,  the  work  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  American  Revisers  of  the  New  Testament 
in  comparing  the  manuscripts  and  versions  which 
have  come  down  to  us;  the  advance  that  has  been 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  I J 

made  in  New  Testament  criticism  itself  since  the 
days  of  Ferdinand  Baiir;  the  recent  vindication  of 
the  authenticity  of  patristic  writings  Hke  the  Epistles 
of  Ignatius  that  were  once  regarded  as  spurious;  and 
last  but  not  least,  the  additional  patristic  documents 
that  have  been  discovered  within  the  past  twenty- 
five  years,  have  all  gone  to  prove  the  genuineness  of 
the  Gospels  in  the  form  in  which  we  possess  them. 

While  few  of  us  have  the  time  or  the  training  to 
enter  into  this  subject  with  that  accuracy  of  thought, 
that  sufficiency  of  knowledge,  and  that  cultivated 
power  of  judgement  which  those  New  Testament 
critics  possess  who  devote  their  whole  lives  to  its 
study,  our  interest  in  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospels 
is  just  as  real  and  vital  as  theirs;  and  there  are  some 
facts  whose  weight  it  needs  no  expert  training  to 
understand   and   appreciate. 

The  latest  criticism  accepts  the  three  synoptic 
Gospels  as  having  been  written  within  forty  years 
after  the  Ascension.  Listen  to  what  Dr.  Sanday, 
one  of  the  greatest  living  authorities  on  the  New 
Testament,  says  : 

"  On  this  point,  however,  I  can  speak  with  great  confidence 
.  .  .  that  the  great  mass  of  the  narrative  in  the  first  three 
Gospels  took  its  shape  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
/.  e.  within  less  than  forty  years  of  the  events  "  (Bampton 
Lectures,  page  283). 

"  But  indeed,  all  three  Gospels,  not  only  the  older  docu- 
ments out  of  which  they  are  composed,  but  our  present 
Gospels  as  we  have  them,  lie  under  the  shadow  of  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem.  ...  Of  this  I  think  that  we  may  rest  assured  that 
the  whole  process  of  the  composition  of  our  first  three 
Gospels,  a  process  no  doubt  highly  complicated  and  in  its 


1 8  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

details  obscure,  must  be  comprised  within  limits  of  which 
the  least  is  not  later  than  the  year  80  A.  d."  (Bampton 
Lectures,  p.  293). 

Irenaeus,  who  was  a  follower  of  Polycarp,  a  disciple 
of  St.  John,  and  who  lived  through  the  greater  part 
of  the  second  century  (a.  d.  130-190),  writes  as 
follows :  — 

"  So  firm  is  the  ground  on  which  these  three  Gospels  rest 
that  the  very  heretics  themselves  bear  witness  to  them,  and 
starting  from  these  [documents]  each  one  of  them  endeav- 
ors to  establish  his  peculiar  doctrine.  For  the  Ebionites, 
who  use  Matthew's  Gospel  only,  are  confuted  out  of  this 
very  same,  making  false  suppositions  with  regard  to  the 
Lord.  But  Marcion,  mutilating  that  according  to  St.  Luke, 
is  proved  to  be  a  blasphemer  of  the  only  existing  God  by 
that  which  he  still  retains.  Those  again  who  separate  Jesus 
from  Christ,  alleging  that  Christ  remained  impassible  but 
that  it  was  Jesus  who  suffered,  preferring  the  Gospel  of 
St.  Mark,  if  they  read  it  with  a  love  of  the  truth,  may  have 
their  errors  rectified.  Those,  moreover,  who  follow  Valen- 
tinus,  making  copious  use  of  that  according  to  John,  shall 
be  proved  to  be  totally  in  error  by  means  of  this  very 
Gospel. 

"  It  is  not  possible  that  the  Gospels  can  be  more  or  fewer 
in  number  than  they  are.  For,  since  there  are  four  zones 
of  the  world  in  which  we  live,  and  four  principal  winds, 
while  the  Church  is  scattered  throughout  all  the  world,  and 
the  '  pillar  and  ground  '  of  the  Church  is  the  Gospel  and 
the  spirit  of  life,  it  is  fitting  that  she  should  have  four  pillars, 
breathing  out  immortality  on  every  side." 

Again,  the  Muratoriaii  Fragment  was  written  A.  D. 
160-220.  It  contains  a  canon  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  is  so  mutilated  that  it  commences  at  the 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  1 9 

middle  of  the  second  Gospel ;  but  the  other  books 
are  there.  If,  as  Bishop  Lightfoot  thinks,  this  was 
composed  by  Hippolytus,  Bishop  of  Portus  (a.  D. 
160-226),  a  writer  whose  position  and  influence  were 
unique  among  the  Roman  Christians  of  his  day,  then 
its  importance  is  even  more  strongly  emphasized. 
And  Hippolytus  himself  supplies  the  missing  portion 
by  having  written  a  commentary  on  St.  Matthew's 
Gospel. 

Again,  the  Fathers  of  the  primitive  Church  often 
spoke  in  their  writings  of  a  very  early  Harm.ony  of 
the  four  Gospels,  called  the  Diatessaron  of  Tatian, 
in  which  were  woven  into  one  continuous  narrative  the 
combined  accounts  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke  re- 
garding the  Nativity  of  our  Lord ;  and  for  centuries 
it  was  a  subject  of  deepest  regret  that  a  work  quoted 
with  such  approval  by  the  early  Fathers  and  written 
in  the  second  century  by  a  Christian  of  such  marked 
ability,  should  have  been  lost.  Tatian  was  an  Assy- 
rian, born  about  no  A.  D.  At  Rome  he  became  the 
pupil  of  Justin  Martyr,  and  after  the  martyrdom  of  the 
latter  (155-166),  became  his  successor.  The  period 
of  Tatian's  literary  activity  is  placed  by  Lightfoot 
between  A.  D.  155-170;  by  VVestcott,  A.  D.  150-175; 
by  Harnack,  152-3.  In  1886  the  long  lost,  long 
sought  Diatessaron,  or  Harmony  of  the  Four  Gospels, 
was  suddenly  discovered,  and  it  has  become  of  im- 
mense value,  directly  and  indirectly,  in  proving  their 
early   origin.^ 

1  The  Diatessaron  of  Tatian.  "Tatian  the  Assyrian,  a  pupil  of 
Justin  Martyr  wrote  a  harmony  of  the  four  Gospels,  called  the  "  Dia- 
tessaron," about,  or  a  little  after,  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 
(/.  e.  A.  D.   150-175.)     This  work,  and  also  a  Commentary  upon  it, 


20  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

So  far,  we  have  adduced  only  Irenaeus,  HIppolytus 
and  Tatian  as  authorities,  because  they  relate  to  all 
four  Gospels.  Our  space  will  not  permit  us  to  go  back 
from  author  to  author  in  whose  writings  the  words 
of  the  Gospels  are  quoted.  In  instances  of  this 
kind,  the  writings  of  heretics,  like  Marcion  and  the 
Gnostics,  are  even  more  valuable  than  those  of  or- 
thodox believers,  for  they  reveal  in  what  reverent 
estimation  the  Gospels  were  held  at  that  early  day 
even  by  those  who  were  in  the  position  of  doubters. 
It  is  by  bringing  all  these  proofs  together  that  Dr. 
Sanday  has  felt  justified  in  stating  that  all  four  Gos- 
pels were  written  before  the  fall  of  Jerusalem ;  and 
Professor  Harnack,  in  his  most  recent  work,  says : 
"  The  oldest  literature  of  the  Church,  in  all  main 
points,  and  in  most  details,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  literary  criticism,  is  genuine  and  trustworthy.  In 
the  whole  New  Testament  there  is,  in  all  probability, 
only  a  single  writing  which  can  be  looked  upon  as 
pseudonymous  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word,  — 
namely,  the  Second  Epistle  of  St.  Peter." 


written  later  by  Ephraem  the  Syrian,  are  referred  to  by  ancient  writers, 
but  no  manuscripts  of  either  of  the  writings  were  discovered,  until 
in  1876  a  Latin  translation  of  the  Commentary  was  made  from  an 
Armenian  version  found  in  Venice,  —  and  in  1888  an  Arabic  trans- 
lation of  the  Diatessaron  itself  was  discovered  in  the  Vatican  library. 
Only  thirteen  years  ago  the  evidence  which  could  be  alleged  in 
support  of  the  traditional  theory  that  Tatian's  Diatessaron  was  com- 
posed of  our  four  Gospels,  though  in  my  judgment  sufficient,  was 
scanty.  The  recovery  of  Ephraem's  Lectures,  and  of  the  Arabic 
translation  of  the  Diatessaron,  has  wholly  changed  the  conditions  of 
the  controversy.  That  Tatian,  the  friend  of  Justin  Martyr,  knew  our 
four  Gospels,  and  that  in  his  Diatessaron  he  worked  them  into  a 
continuous  narrative,  is  now  finally  demonstrated."  —  The  Living 
Christ  and  the  Four  Gospels,  Dale,  p.  170. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  21 

All  through  this  period  the  miraculous  birth  of 
Christ  was  undoubtedly  accepted  as  an  historic 
fact  by  the  Church  of  Christ.  Before  A.  D.  117,  or 
within  twenty-five  years  of  the  death  of  St.  John, 
Ignatius,  his  disciple,  in  one  of  the  seven  epistles 
which  the  late  Bishop  Lightfoot  proved  conclusively 
to  be  genuine,  wrote  to  the  Ephesians :  '*  Hidden 
from  the  prince  of  this  world  were  the  virginity  of 
Mary,  and  her  child-bearing,  and  likewise,  also,  the 
death  of  the  Lord,  —  three  mysteries  to  be  cried  aloud, 
the  which  were  wrought  in  the  silence  of  God.  How 
then  were  they  made  manifest  to  the  ages?  A  star' 
shone  forth  in  the  heavens  above  all  the  stars :  and  its 
light  was  unutterable,  and  its  strangeness  caused 
amazement"  (Ignatius,  Epistle  to  Ephesians,  cap.  19). 

The  following  passages  from  Justin  Martyr,  writ- 
ten not  more  than  forty  years  after  Ignatius,  are  also 
unmistakable  in  their  import :  • — 

*'  The  angel  of  God  who  was  sent  to  the  same  virgin  at 
that  time  brought  her  good  news,  saying,  *  Behold,  thou  shalt 
conceive  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  shalt  bear  a  Son,  and  He 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest'  ...  as  they  w/io 
have  recorded  all  that  concerns  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  here 
taught." — First  Apology,  cap.  2iZ' 

"  And  since  we  find  it  recorded  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Apostles,  that  He  [Jesus]  is  the  Son  of  God ;  and  since  we 
call  Him  the  Son,  we  have  understood  that  He  proceeded 
before  all  creatures  from  the  Father  by  His  power  and  will, 
and  that  He  became  man  by  the  Virgin."  —  Dialogue  with 
Trypho,  cap.  100. 

"  I  have  already  proved  that  He  was  the  only  begotten 
in  a  peculiar  manner,  Word  and  Power  by  Him,  and  having 
afterwards  become  man  through  the  Virgin,  as  we  have 
learned  from  the  Memoirs."  —  Ibid,  cap.  105. 


22  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

One  more  fact  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  as  we  look 
back  to  those  early  centuries,  which,  in  accordance 
with  the  principle  that  every  denial  presupposes  an 
anterior  affirmation,  is  conclusive  that  these  writers 
were  expressing  the  ordinary  belief  of  the  Christians  of 
their  day.  In  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  the 
sect  of  the  Ebionites  denied  outright  that  Christ  had 
ever  been  conceived  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary ;  and  the  very  existence  of  this  emphatic 
denial  on  their  part,  as  Dr.  Dorner  well  says,  throws 
out  with  great  emphasis  the  fact  that  the  miraculous 
conception  of  our  Lord  must  have  been,  previously, 
the  common  and  accepted  Creed  of  the  Church. 


Ill 

But  the  methods  of  modern  criticism  justify  us  in 
assuming  a  still  stronger  position.  As  Professor 
Weiss  of  Berlin  has  recently  shown  in  his  Life  of 
Christ,  the  miraculous  birth  of  our  Lord  stands 
out  as  an  historic  fact,  which,  by  its  own  inherent 
force,  refutes  every  hypothesis  as  to  its  mythic  or 
legendary  origin.  For  what  is  a  myth  and  what  is 
a  legend?  The  two  are  diametrically  opposite  to 
one  another.  A  myth  is  an  idea  for  which  a  fact  is, 
in  process  of  time,  invented  by  the  fervent  imagina- 
tions of  the  faithful ;  while,  on  the  contrary,  a  legend 
is  a  fact  which  becomes,  by  and  by,  the  basis  for  an 
idea.  Now  it  so  happens,  that  both  of  these  hypotheses 
regarding  the  whole  miraculous  history  of  the  New 
Testament  have  been  discussed  in  Germany  and  else- 
where by  some  of  the  most  brilliant  minds  of  the 
nineteenth   century.      Fifty    years   ago   the   mythic 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  23 

theory  was  broached  by  Strauss  and  prosecuted  by 
his  adherents ;  and  this,  in  turn,  was  followed  by  the 
legend  theory  of  Ferdinand  Baur  and  his  school  of 
critics. 

The  first,  or  mythic  theory,  necessitates  a  pre- 
disposition and  tendency  toward  a  certain  belief, 
which  gradually  grows  stronger  and  stronger  until, 
at  last,  a  fact  is  imagined  to  express  the  fixed  pre- 
conceived ideas.  According  to  the  laws  of  history 
and  human  thought,  therefore,  a  myth  cannot  arise 
without  such  a  prepossession  in  the  minds  of  believ- 
ers. Applying  this  test  to  the  mythic  theory  of 
Christ's  supernatural  birth,  we  fail  to  find  in  the 
Rabbinical  literature  of  the  Jews  before  Christ,  and 
even  in  the  Old  Testament  itself,  the  slightest  trace  of 
any  expectation  that  Christ  should  be  born  of  a 
virgin.  On  the  contrary,  the  whole  trend  of  Hebrew 
thought  was  in  the  opposite  direction,  for  among  the 
Jews  married  life  was  always  considered  a  higher 
state  than  single  life.  It  was  not  until  a  later  age 
that  the  idea  of  the  superior  sanctity  of  the  virgin 
state  became  prevalent;  and  it  is  a  gross  anachro- 
nism to  imagine  that  the  ancient  Jews  were  influenced 
or  governed  by  it.  Certainly,  we  can  discover  no 
trace  of  such  influence  in  the  writings  of  the  Jewish 
prophets,  for  the  only  passage  in  the  whole  Old  Tes- 
tament which  refers  directly  to  the  miraculous  birth  of 
Christ  is  that  verse  in  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  which 
foretells  that  a  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bring  forth  a 
child,  and  shall  call  His  name  Immanuel  (Isaiah  vii. 
14).  But,  as  the  word  ''  virgin  "  was  often  used  among 
the  Jews  before  Christ,  in  the  general  sense  of  any 
young  woman,  this  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  wonderful  as  it 


24  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

is,  was  entirely  passed  over  and  forgotten  by  the 
Rabbis  and  Doctors  of  the  Law,  until,  at  last,  it  was 
interpreted  by  the  fact.  The  fact  was  not  invented, 
like  a  myth,  to  meet  the  prophecy,  but  the  prophecy 
was  sought  out  by  St.  Matthew,  and  discovered  by 
him  to  meet  a  fact  which  had  already  taken  place. 
As  Dr.  Weiss  well  says,  the  silence  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament itself  regarding  any  prepossession  or  feeling 
of  expectation  of  Christ's  miraculous  birth  of  a 
virgin,  disposes  forever  of  the  mythic  hypothesis  of 
His  Nativity. 

Let  us  now  pass  from  the  theory  of  myth  to 
that  of  legend,  and  from  the  Old  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment. In  a  similar  way,  a  legend  takes  time  to  grow, 
and  the  gradual  development  of  its  growth  can  be 
traced  in  the  literature  of  the  times,  showing  how 
a  natural  fact  slowly  becomes,  in  the  imaginations 
of  the  faithful,  a  supernatural  one,  to  which  the  idea 
of  a  divine  significance  becomes  attached.  But,  in 
the  New  Testament,  which  hands  down  to  us  the  ear- 
liest of  all  Christian  writings,  there  is  not  the  slightest 
trace  of  the  development  of  the  legend  theory. 
After  the  record  of  the  Nativity  itself,  in  the  first 
chapters  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke,  and  the  allu- 
sion to  it  in  the  beginning  of  St.  John's  record,  the 
Gospels  make  no  further  allusion  to  it.  What  is  even 
more  remarkable,  in  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, where  we  can  trace,  in  other  ways,  a  very  dis- 
tinct development  of  Christian  doctrine,  there  is  no 
direct  allusion  to  the  Nativity  whatever.  In  several 
passages,  we  shall  show  later  on,  it  is  taken  for 
granted,  and  in  one  verse  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians,  where  St.  Paul  speaks  of  God,  in  the  fulness  of 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST  25 

time,  sending  forth  His  Son,  "made  of  a  woman "^ 
the  emphasis  laid  upon  the  last  sentence  may- 
show  that  the  Apostle  had  the  Virgin  Birth  of  Christ 
in  mind ;  but  this  is  very  different  from  the  develop- 
ment of  a  fact  into  a  legend.  After  the  narrative  of 
the  Nativity  itself,  the  New  Testament  is  as  silent  as 
the  Old  regarding  the  miraculous  birth  of  our  Lord. 
And  when  we  turn  to  the  post-apostolic  writings  the 
same  story  repeats  itself.  While  enough  is  recorded, 
in  detached  sayings  of  the  Fathers,  and  sentences  of 
the  early  symbols  of  faith,  to  show  that  the  Church  of 
Christ  held  firmly  to  the  belief  that  He  was  conceived 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  there  is 
none  of  that  continuous  emphasis  laid  upon  the  fact, 
none  of  that  imaginative  language,  none  of  that 
gradual  expansion  of  the  supernatural  side,  that 
the  legend  theory  requires.  Testing  the  scriptural 
record  of  Christ's  Nativity  by  those  very  laws  of 
history  and  human  thought  which  govern  the  for- 
mation of  legends,  we  are  compelled  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  Gospel  narrative  of  Christ's  birth  cannot 
possibly  be  legendary.  If,  therefore,  that  record  is 
neither  myth  on  the  one  hand,  nor  legend  on  the 
other,  there  is  only  one  alternative  left,  —  it  must 
be  historic  fact. 

1  Gal.  iv.  4. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE   VIRGIN    BIRTH   AND    THE    NEW   ADAM 

IN  the  last  chapter,  we  spoke  of  the  scriptural  con- 
trast between  the  First  and  the  Second  Adam, 
and  showed  that  the  reference  to  the  Virgin  Birth 
of  Christ,  as  the  New  Adam  and  the  Founder  of  a 
new  race,  appears  by  necessary  implication,  and  as 
a  truth  that  is  taken  for  granted  by  St,  John,  on  the 
very  first  page  of  the  fourth  Gospel.  Indeed,  with- 
out that  fact,  St.  John's  words,  both  in  this  passage 
and  also  in  the  third  and  sixth  chapters  of  his  Gos- 
pel, which  implicitly  refer  to  Baptism  and  the  Holy 
Communion,  are  left  without  the  key  to  their  true 
interpretation  and  stand  unrelated  to  one  another. 
For  never  can  we  comprehend  the  wonderful  nature 
of  the  Incarnate  Life  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  way  in 
which  it  not  only  solves  the  conflicting  problems 
of  human  existence  but  interprets  His  own  sacra- 
mental teaching,  until  we  fix  our  attention  closely 
upon  the  beginning  of  His  Incarnation  as  it  is  re- 
vealed in  the  New  Testament  records. 

I 

The  fundamental  principle  underlying  the  Incar- 
nation of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  perfect  union  in  Him  of 
the  Divine  and  human  life. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      27 

From  time  immemorial,  philosophers  and  seekers 
after  God  in  every  age  have  felt  that  there  were 
insoluble  difficulties  uprising  before  them  when- 
ever they  faced  the  great  problems  of  Divine  and 
human  existence  and  endeavoured  to  reconcile 
them. 

There  was  the  relation  between  the  infinite  and  the 
finite,  between  the  subjective  and  the  objective, 
between  the  spiritual  and  the  material,  and  so  on. 
Nor  was  the  world  ever  able  to  reach  satisfaction  in 
all  its  age-long  attempts  to  reconcile  these  difficulties 
until  the  birth  of  Christ.  The  first  page  of  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John  proclaims  that  Christ  was  the 
Light  of  the  world,  that  in  Him  was  life,  and  that 
the  Life  was  the  light  of  men.  It  was  so  because  It 
was  both  Divine  and  Human;  God  and  all  that 
belongs  to  the  Godhead ;  manhood,  and  all  that  per- 
tains to  our  humanity  in  its  perfection,  found  their 
perfect  union  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Let  us  fix  our  attention  upon  this  fundamental 
truth.  It  is  inconceivable  that  the  Godhead  could 
have  become  enshrined  in  an  imperfect  or  sinful 
manhood.  The  body  prepared  for  Christ,  when  He 
said,  "  Lo,  I  come  to  do  Thy  will,  O  God,"  must  have 
been  a  perfect  human  body,  for  He  was  to  be  the 
Lamb  of  God,  without  spot  or  blemish  or  any  such 
thing.  He  was  to  be  the  Ideal  Man,  and  the  abso- 
lutely Sinless  Man.  Therefore  He  assumed  all  that 
pertains  to  human  nature,  imperfection  only  ex- 
cepted. He  was  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are, 
yet  without  sin.  This  absolute  necessity  of  sinless- 
ness  in  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  from  every  Chris- 
tian point   of  view,   is   fundamental;    without  it  the 


28  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Crucifixion  and  the  Atonement,  the  Resurrection 
and  Ascension,  are  robbed  of  their  profound  depth 
of  meaning;  nay,  the  Incarnation  itself  becomes  an 
impossibihty.  And  here  let  us  anticipate  any  ques- 
tion which  may  arise  as  to  the  nature  of  sin  by 
saying  that  sin  is  not  an  entity  in  itself.  It  is  a 
spirit  of  lawlessness  within  us  which  is  always  rebel- 
ling against  God.  Sin,  however,  does  not  arise 
only  from  a  lawless  will  which  refuses  to  do  the  will 
of  God ;  it  comes  also  from  a  weak  will  which  is 
powerless  to  do  the  will  of  God.  And  this  enerva- 
tion of  will  power  within  us  arises  from  a  hereditary 
bias  toward  lawlessness,  or,  if  you  will,  a  moral 
defect,  which  has  been  handed  down  to  us  by  a  long 
line  of  sinful  ancestors. 

The  first  Adam  was  unlike  us,  in  that  he  was  free 
from  this  taint  of  heredity.  His  will,  before  his  fall, 
was  in  a  state  of  equilibrium.  If  he  sinned,  it  was 
through  his  own  individual  choice,  and  not  because, 
like  ourselves,  he  had  any  predisposition  or  bias 
toward  sin,  that  weakened  his  power  of  resistance. 
So  was  it  with  Christ,  the  Second  Adam.  It  is  of 
great  importance  to  our  understanding  of  this  whole 
subject,  that  we  should  bear  this  distinction  in  mind. 
If  Christ  had  been  created  like  tis,  He  would  not 
have  been  like  the  first  Adam;  and  conversely,  if  he 
was  created  like  the  first  Adam,  He  was  unlike  us  in 
one  respect.  His  human  nature  was  perfect.  His 
will  power  was  not  warped  and  weakened  by  the 
sinful  will  power  of  a  long  line  of  ancestors,  hand- 
ing down,  by  heredity,  the  moral  defects  that  re- 
sulted from  their  sinfulness.  Christ's  human  nature 
was  like   that  of  Adam  in  Paradise   before  sinning. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      29 

It  was  unlike  ours,  not  in  being  a  different  kind  of 
nature,  but  only  in  the  one  respect  in  which  the  First 
Adam's  was  unlike  ours.  Both  the  First  and  Second 
Adam  were  free  from  the  taint  of  hereditary  sin. 

Yet  this  very  unlikeness,  so  far  from  separating 
Christ  from  us,  unites  Him  more  closely  to  us.  For 
if  Christ,  with  a  human  will  in  a  perfect  state  of  equi- 
librium between  right  and  wrong,  was  tempted  in  all 
points  like  as  we  are,  yet  kept  Himself  sinless  by 
His  own  freedom  of  choice,  and  simply  and  only  by 
His  personal  resistance  to  every  temptation,  then  we 
are  united  to  Him  in  the  closest  bonds  of  sympathy 
and  by  every  tie  of  a  common  manhood.  But  if,  in- 
stead of  being  like  the  first  Adam,  Christ  had  been 
created  like  us,  and  had  that  weakness  of  will  power, 
that  moral  defect,  which  comes  through  the  sinful 
entail  of  human  heredity,  then,  notwithstanding  His 
personal  willingness  to  resist  every  temptation  and  to 
do  God's  will  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  Heaven,  the 
force  of  these  sinful  hereditary  influences  would, 
in  Him  as  in  us,  have  overcome  His  power  of  resist- 
ance, unless  it  were  counteracted  by  a  superhuman 
moral  force  infused  into  His  manhood,  enabling  Him 
to  live  on  a  superhuman  level  of  sinlessness.  And 
the  possession  of  this  mysterious  superhuman  moral 
power,  so  different  from  anything  that  we  have  ever 
found  in  humanity,  would  not  only  have  destroyed 
the  reality  of  His  human  temptations,  but  also  have 
separated  Him  from  us  by  a  gulf  that  is  far  wider 
and  deeper  than  that  which  intervenes  between  us 
and  the  First  Adam,  or  a  Second  Adam,  Who  was 
like  the  First.  And  this  is  our  answer  to  the  objec- 
tion that  the  Virgin  Birth  of  our  Lord  is  an  unnec- 


30  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

essary  miracle,  which,  so  far  from  strengthening  the 
Gospel  narrative,  really  weakens  its  force.  Christ 
must  have  been  distinctly  a  new  creation  if  He  is  the 
Second  Adam  and  the  Progenitor  of  a  new  race  of 
men,  who  are  born  again  into  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.     For  these  also  are  a  new  creation. 

"■  Some  modern  theologians,  accepting  the  moral  miracle 
of  sinlessness,  reject  the  physical  miracle,  which,  according 
to  die  Gospels,  was  its  actual,  if  not  necessary  presup- 
position ;  or  at  least,  treat  it  as  a  thing  of  no  religious 
importance  so  long  as  the  moral  miracle  is  believed  in.  The 
element  of  truth  in  these  views  is  that  the  supernatural  birth  is 
not  an  end  in  itself,  but  only  a  means  to  an  end.  It  is  the 
symbol,  the  sinlessness  being  the  substance.  A  sinless  Christ 
is  the  proper  object  of  faith.  Under  what  conditions  such  a 
Christ  is  possible  is  a  very  important  question,  but  it  be- 
longs to  theology  rather  than  to  religion.  Yet  it  has  to  be 
remembered  that  faith  is  ever  in  a  state  of  unstable  equilib- 
rium, while  the  supernatural  is  dealt  with  eclectically, — 
admitted  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  sphere,  denied  in  the 
physical.  With  belief  in  the  virgin  birth  is  apt  to  go  belief  in 
the  virgin  life,  as  not  less  than  the  other  a  part  of  the  veil  that 
must  be  taken  away  that  the  true  Jesus  may  be  seen  as  He 
was  —  a  morally  defective  man,  better  than  most,  but  not 
perfectly  good.  ...  A  sinless  man  is  as  much  a  miracle  in 
the  moral  world  as  a  virgin  birth  is  a  miracle  in  the  physical 
world."  1 

II 

And  this  brings  before  us  another  important  truth 
regarding  Christ's  physical  nature. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  as  it  has  always 
been  held  by  the  Catholic  Church,  teaches  us  that 

1  "  Apologetics,"  Bruce,  p.  409. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      3 1 

when  the  Logos,  or  Word  of  God,  was  made  flesh, 
He  brought  Heaven  and  earth  together  in  His  Own 
Person,  and  that  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fuhiess  of 
times,  God  will  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in 
Christ,  both  which  are  in  Heaven  and  which  are  on 
earth. 

If  this  interpretation  of  the  meaning  of  Christ's 
Incarnation  is  correct,  then  it  follows  that  life  in 
Christ,  which  is  not  only  the  highest,  but  the  broad- 
est and  most  comprehensive  hfe  of  which  our  human 
nature  is  capable,  is  not  to  be  reached  by  pursuing  and 
dweUing  upon  the  spiritual  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
material  side  of  existence.  The  highest  life  comes 
from  the  combination  of  spiritual  with  physical  forces, 
and  develops  itself  out  of  their  union. 

This  is  a  truth  so  plainly  and  distinctly  set  forth  in  the 
Epistles  of  the  New  Testament,  and  so  necessary  to  a 
right  understanding  of  their  contents,  that  it  is  not 
only  to  be  ceaselessly  borne  in  mind  whenever  we 
think  of  the  Incarnation,  but  is  to  stand  as  a  funda- 
mental principle,  by  which  we  test  the  truthfulness 
and  accuracy  of  different  theological  propositions; 
for,  from  time  immemorial,  the  tendency  of  religious 
thought  has  been  to  emphasize  the  separation  of  the 
physical  from  the  spiritual,  and  to  believe  that  spiritu- 
ality is  to  be  found  on  the  spiritual  side  alone.  In- 
deed, it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  this  unscriptural 
idea  has  been  the  cause  of  most  of  the  sects  and 
divisions  in  the  Church. 

The  New  Testament  writers  everywhere  teach  us 
that  the  sanctification  of  the  body,  with  the  physical 
conditions  of  existence  connected  with  it,  is  as  neces- 
sary to  growth  in  grace  as  the  sanctification  of  the 


32  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

soul.  The  body  is  "  the  Temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  " 
the  body  is,  in  fact,  the  organ  of  the  soul,  for  the  two 
are  inseparable  in  the  preparation  for  immortal  life. 
And  if  we  look  for  the  origin  and  source  of  that  im- 
mortal life,  it  is  to  be  found  only  in  Christ  Himself 

And  here  comes  out,  in  sharp  contrast,  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  First  and  Second  Adam.  The 
Fi-rst  Adam  "is  of  the  earth,  earthy."  And  all 
his  descendants,  who  derive  their  life  from  him 
by  natural  generation,  are  likewise  "  of  the  earth, 
earthy."  As  he  was  made  *'a  living  soul,"  so  are 
they  living  souls,  made  in  the  image  of  God.  As 
Adam  was  called  ''  the  son  of  God,"  so  are  all  his 
descendants,  likewise,  sons  of  God ;  only  we  must 
carefully  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  there  is  a  wide 
difference  in  the  meaning  of  this  term,  as  it  is  used 
in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  As  is  well  known, 
the  doctrine  of  immortality  and  belief  in  immortal 
life  do  not  appear,  in  any  distinct  form,  in  the  Old 
Testament. 

Adam  and  his  descendants  were  simply  called 
children  of  God  for  this  life,  and  all  the  promises 
made  to  him  and  to  them  related  to  this  life  only. 
There  was  no  promise  of  life  hereafter.  On  the  con- 
trary, there  is,  at  the  end  of  the  third  chapter  of 
Genesis,  a  very  mysterious  and  significant  passage, 
which  tells  us  that,  although  Adam  and  Eve  were 
allowed  to  live  on  in  this  lower  world,  yet  God,  when 
He  drove  out  the  man,  "  placed  in  the  east  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  Cherubim  and  a  flaming  sword, 
which  turned  every  way  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree 
of  life."  ^     Here  we  see  the  limitations  of  the  life  of 

1  Geu.  iii.  24. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      33 

Adam  and  his  descendants.  They  are  under  the 
covenant  mercies  of  God ;  but  there  is  no  profiiise 
of  Hfe  beyond  the  grave ;  only,  as  sons  of  God,  they 
have  a  right  to  look  to  Him  and  call  upon  Him 
as  their  Father  in  Heaven,  and,  also,  a  right  to  expect 
from  Him  a  heavenly  Father's  protection  and  care 
here  and  hereafter. 

In  the  same  chapter  in  which  St.  Paul,  an  Apostle 
of  Jesus  Christ,  tells  us  that  the  first  man  is  "of  the 
earth,  earthy,"  he  also  tells  us  that  "  flesh  and  blood 
cannot  inherit  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  neither  doth 
corruption  inherit  incorruption ;  "  and  that,  before 
the  dead  can  be  raised,  "this  corruption  vc\v\^\. put  on 
incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immortal- 
ity." ^  Some  new  power  of  life,  therefore,  which  we 
do  not  derive  by  natural  generation  from  Adam, 
must  *' change  "  us ; '-^  must  be  "put  on,"  or  infused 
into  our  nature,  before  it  can  be  raised  to  immortal 
life.  And  it  is  New  Testament  teaching  that  this 
power  comes  through  the  Incarnation.  All  the 
promises  of  God  regarding  immortal  life  in  Heaven 
are  made  only  in  and  through  Jesus  Christ.  The 
Gospels  and  Epistles  ring  with  the  message,  now 
in  this  form  and  now  in  that,  that  he  that  hath  the 
Son  hath  life,  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God 
hath  not  life. 

The  Incarnation  of  Christ,  therefore,  must  be  the 
basis  and  starting  point  of  our  thinking,  if  we  would 
understand  New  Testament  teaching.  Both  soul 
and  body  are  corruptible :  in  the  one  we  see  the  spi- 
ritual, in  the  other  the  physical  effects  of  sin ;  and 
neither  can  be   raised   to   life   immortal    in    Heaven 

1  I  Cor.  XV.  53.  2  I  Cor.  xv.  51. 

3 


34  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

without  the  impartation  of  a  new  principle   of  life, 
through  Christ. 

As  Christ  Himself  assures  us,  it  needs  something 
more  than  to  be  born  of  flesh  and  blood  for  us  to 
become  possessors  of  immortal  life.  Flesh  and  blood 
cannot  inherit  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  A  man  must 
be  born  again  —  that  is,  born  from  above  —  before 
he  can  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God,  And  it  must  be, 
both  materially  and  spiritually,  a  birth  from  above, 
for  not  only  the  soul  but  the  body  are  to  be  raised 
from  mortal  to  immortal  life. 

This  new  birth,  as  we  have  said  before,  comes 
only  through  the  Incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ.  "  To 
as  many  as  received  Him,"  writes  St.  John,  "  gave 
He  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to 
them  which  believe  in  His  name:  which  were  born, 
not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the 
will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

The  First  Adam  was  made  ''  a  living  soul,"  the 
Last  Adam  "became  a  life-giving  spirit;  "  the  First 
Adam  is  of  the  earth,  earthy,  the  New  Adam  is 
"  from  Heaven,"  or,  in  the  language  of  St.  John, 
"the  Word  made  flesh;"  the  First  Adam,  after 
his  fall,  had  that  sentence  pronounced  against  him, 
"  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return," 
the  Last  Adam  pronounced  His  sentence  against 
death  itself,  and  declared  His  power  over  death  in 
those  words  :  "  I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life  "  ^ 
"  No  man  taketh  [My  life]  from  Me,  but  I  lay  it  down 
of  Myself.  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down  of  Myself 
and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again."  ^  The  First 
Adam  after  the  fall  was  imperfect  man ;  the  Second 
1  St.  John  xi.  25.  '-2  St.  John  x.  18. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      35 

Adam  was  perfect  man,  not  only  in  soul  but  in  body. 
In  the  Old  Adam,  we  behold  our  human  nature 
dwarfed,  stunted,  corrupted,  and  in  a  fallen  condi- 
tion ;  in  the  New  Adam,  we  behold  our  human 
nature  revealing  its  boundless  capacities  for  good, 
purified,  glorified,  immortalized. 

To  comprehend  how  this  difference  affected  the 
physical  nature  of  Christ,  we  must  go  back  to  the 
condition  of  Adam  before  his  fall,  and  remember 
that  he  possessed  then  not  only  an  uncorrupted  soul, 
but  also  an  uncorrupted  body.  The  very  fact  that 
after  his  fall  the  sentence  was  pronounced  against 
him,  "Dust  thou  art  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return," 
indicates  that  he  had  not  been  under  this  sentence 
before,  and  that  his  fall  had  brought  about  a  change 
not  only  in  his  spiritual  and  psychical,  but  also  in  his 
physical  condition.  When  our  Lord  came  into  this 
lower  world  as  the  Second  Adam,  though  human  and 
like  ourselves  in  every  respect  but  that  of  sinfulness, 
the  very  perfection  of  His  Manhood  freed  Him  from 
these  effects  of  sin,  and  from  the  attendant  changes 
in  these  spiritual,  psychical,  and  physical  conditions 
of  man  that  it  wrought. 

His  uncorrupted  soul  was  wedded  to  an  uncor- 
rupted body.  His  conquest  over  sin,  at  last,  made 
that  body  incorruptible.  And  this  was  undoubtedly 
what  St.  Peter  meant  when  in  his  Pentecostal  sermon 
he  first  spoke  of  the  risen  Christ  as  One  "  Whom 
God  hath  raised  up,  having  loosed  the  pains  of  death, 
for  it  was  not  possible  that  He  should  be  holden  of 
it;"  and  then,  quoting  the  words  of  the  patriarch 
David  in  the  Sixteenth  Psalm,  added,  *'  He  [David] 
seeing  this  before,  spake  of  the  Resurrection  of  Christ, 


36  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

that  His  soul  was  not  left  in  hell,  neither  did  His 
flesh  see  corruption. ^  The  reference  becomes  still 
more  important  when  we  remember  that  St.  Paul, 
years  afterward,  pointed  back  to  this  same  psalm  as 
a  prophecy  of  Christ's  Resurrection,  saying:  "David, 
after  he  had  served  his  own  generation  by  the  will 
of  God,  fell  on  sleep,  and  was  laid  unto  his  fathers, 
and  saw  corruption,  but  He,  whom  God  raised  up, 
saw  no  corruption."  ^  The  chief  point  to  be  observed 
here  is  that  both  Apostles  evidently  held  the  belief 
that  when  Christ  died.  His  body  not  only  did  not, 
but  cotild  not,  see  corruption ;  or,  in  other  words, 
it  was  not  only  sinless,  but  incorruptible. 

The  Transfiguration  of  Christ  before  His  death  is 
also  a  fact  to  be  remembered  in  this  connection,  for 
our  Lord  Himself,  then  and  there,  expressly  charged 
those  who  had  witnessed  it,  "  to  tell  the  vision  to  no 
man,  until  the  Son  of  Man  be  risen  again  from  the 
dead."^ 

The  bearing  of  all  this  upon  the  miraculous  birth 
of  Christ  is  evident.  For  if  Christ's  body  was  incor- 
ruptible in  death,  through  His  doing  the  will  of  God 
on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  Heaven,  it  must  have  been 
created  uncorrupt  at  His  birth,  through  the  concep- 
tion by  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  is  recorded  in  St.  Mat- 
thew's and  St.  Luke's  Gospels. 

Our  flesh  is  imperfect.  It  is  diseased,  and  it  must 
be  "  changed  "  before  it  can  "  put  on  "  incorruption 

1  Acts  ii.  23-32.  2  Acts  xiii.  36,  37. 

3  St.  Matt.  xvii.  9.  Dr.  Godet  has  a  striking  commentary  on  the 
Transfiguration  of  Christ,  in  which  he  suggests  that  Christ's  body 
was  then  and  there  immortalized,  but  that  Christ  refused  immortality 
apart  from  the  salvation  of  mankind. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      2il 

and  immortality;  but  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  was 
perfect.  In  it  we  behold  our  physical  manhood  per- 
fected, just  as  in  His  moral  and  spiritual  life  we 
behold  the  ethical  and  divine  lineaments  of  our  man- 
hood perfected.  He  was  on  the  natural,  as  well  as 
the  spiritual  side,  the  Ideal  Man;  and  we  must  bear 
both  in  mind,  if  we  would  understand  His  Incarna- 
tion in  its  varied  aspects. 

If  we  deny  this  truth,  then  we  become  involved 
in  all  those  grave  difficulties  which  fifteen  hundred 
years  ago  beset  Apollinaris  and  his  followers.  The 
only  answer  to  Apollinarianism  is  the  immaculate 
conception  of  Christ. 


Ill 

We  come  now,  in  considering  the  Incarnation,  to 
the  question  of  personality.  This  is,  perhaps,  the 
greatest  mystery  of  our  human  existence.  Descar- 
tes believed  that  he  had  reached  a  final  definition, 
when  he  uttered  that  famous  maxim,  "  I  think,  there- 
fore I  am ;  "  but  thought  is  only  one  attribute  of 
personality.  Another  celebrated  philosopher  has 
said,  "  I  act,  therefore  I  am,"  but  will  power  is  only 
a  second  attribute.  Love  is,  again,  a  third,  and  so 
on.  These  are  signs,  indications,  proofs  to  us  of  our 
own  personality,  but  the  personality  itself  lies  back 
of  them  all.  It  is  one  selfhood,  combining  insepar- 
ably in  one  human  consciousness,  intellect,  will  power, 
and  love.  Now,  taking  our  human  nature  as  it  is, 
we  discover  that  each  man  is  a  different  personality 
from  every  other  man.  It  is  a  simple  fact  of  nature 
that  the  child  of  every  human  father  is  a  separate  and 


38  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

distinct  person,  living  outside  of,  and  apart  from,  his 
own  parent  and  every  other  human  person.  This 
law  is  universal.  If,  therefore,  Christ  had  a  human 
father,  according  to  this  universal  law  of  nature.  He 
would  have  had,  not  only  a  human  body  and  a 
human  soul,  but,  also,  a  human  personality.  There 
would  have  been,  under  such  conditions,  two  person- 
alities, two  separate  and  distinct  selves  in  Christ,  —  a 
human  self  and  a  Divine  self.  This  is  utterly  impos- 
sible, nay,  it  is  unthinkable,  for  there  cannot  be  two 
separate  selves  in  the  same  individual  self,  because 
each  person,  each  self,  is  forever  outside  of  and  dis- 
distinct  from  every  other  self;  in  addition  to  this,  the 
complete  union  of  the  human  and  Divine  in  Christ 
would  thus  have  been  thwarted.  Christ  had,  indeed, 
a  human  body,  a  human  soul,  a  human  will,  but  He 
had  no  human  personality.  The  self  that  was  in  Him, 
the  Ego,  was  Divine. 

There  was  once  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
when  great  confusion  of  thought  prevailed  upon  this 
subject.  During  the  Ante-Nicene  and  Nicene  periods 
Christ's  relation  to  God  the  Father  was  gradually 
thought  out  in  the  light  of  Holy  Scripture,  by  the 
early  Fathers,  and  found,  at  last,  expression,  satis- 
faction, and  rest  in  the  Doctrine  of  Three  Persons 
in  One  God ;  then  came  the  Post-Nicene  period, 
in  which  the  attention  of  the  Church  was  directed 
to  Christ's  relation  to  man.  Apollinaris,  filled  with 
the  spirit  of  Trinitarianism,  began  the  discussion 
by  denying  that  Christ  had  a  human  soul.  When 
it  was  proved  and  became  manifest  that  he  was 
in  error,  Nestorius,  reacting  to  the  other  side  and 
identifying  —  or   rather   confusing  —  a   human   soul 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      39 

with  a  human  personahty,  proclaimed  that  there  must 
be  two  persons  in  the  one  Christ.  When  Nestorius, 
in  turn,  was  proved  to  be  in  the  wrong,  then,  Eutyches 
affirmed  that  if  Christ  were  but  one  Person,  He  must 
have,  essentially,  but  one  nature,  or,  rather,  that  His 
human  nature  must  be  merged  in  the  Divine,  as  a 
drop  of  water  is  lost  in  the  ocean ;  while  the  Mono- 
thelites,  also  reacting  in  the  same  direction,  taught  that 
as  personality  reveals  itself  in  will  power  (or  that 
will  power  and  personality  are  one  and  the  same), 
therefore  there  must  have  been,  of  necessity,  in 
Christ,  not  two  wills,  but  one  Divine  \vilL^ 

When   this  truth    of  Christ's    Divine    Selfhood  is 

1  All  this  while,  the  underlying  truth,  that  a  human  soul  and  a 
human  will  power  were  not  the  same  as  personality  itself,  kept 
growing  clearer  and  clearer  to  the  mind  of  the  Church.  The  skill, 
the  intellectual  force,  the  subtle  power  of  analysis  displayed  by  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  lifts  them  up  to  the  first  rank,  not  only  of 
the  theologians,  but  of  the  men  of  genius  that  the  Christian  era 
has  produced.  And  to-day,  when  the  whole  drift  of  modern  thought 
is  in  the  direction  of  the  study  of  Divine  and  human  personality,  we 
shall  sooner  or  later  discover  how  widely  and  exhaustively  the  field 
has  been  already  covered  in  the  writings  of  those  early  Fathers. 

There  may,  in  some  ways,  be  an  advance  upon  their  thought  and 
a  clearer  comprehension  of  the  subject,  after  the  same  field  has  been 
traversed  once  more,  under  the  increased  knowledge  of  these  nine- 
teenth century  times  :  the  advances  made  in  the  study  of  psychology 
will  lend  their  aid,  and  the  new  science  of  physiology  will  probably 
contribute,  from  a  different  side,  additional  truths  to  those  already 
apprehended,  but  the  ultimate  result  will  be  only  to  enforce,  and 
bring  out  with  greater  emphasis,  the  conclusions  to  which  those 
ancient  Fathers  came.  For  the  first  effort  to  understand  this  whole 
subject  of  human  personality  originated  in  the  study  of  the  human 
character  of  Christ,  the  Light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world.  Christ  Himself,  however,  was  different  from  all  other 
men.  Christ  took  His  human  nature,  in  its  full  perfection,  from  the 
substance  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  but  it  was  a  human  nature  iviihoiit  a 
human  selfhood. 


40  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

firmly  grasped  it  explains  many  things  in  the  Gospels, 
lightens  up  many  mysterious  passages,  and  solves 
difficulties  which,  without  it,  would  be  inexplicable. 
For  example,  it  interprets  for  us  in  many  ways  the 
consciousness  of  Christ.  In  general  there  is  im- 
planted in  the  human  breast  a  consciousness,  first 
of  the  overshadowing  life  of  human  parents,  and 
then,  behind  this,  of  a  Father  in  Heaven;  but 
with  Christ  the  greater  consciousness  of  the  Divine 
Father's  love,  protection,  and  care,  seems  to  have  ob- 
literated and  taken  the  place  of  the  ordinary  human 
love  for  an  earthly  parent.  To  Him,  the  love  of 
God  the  Father  was  not  only  just  as  vividly  realized 
and  as  immediate,  as  that  of  a  human  father  is  to  us, 
but  far  more  so.  Out  of  the  fulness  of  that  con- 
sciousness and  that  affectionate  confidence  in  His 
Father's  love,  He  was  not  only  able  to  say :  "  If  ye, 
being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father  in  Heaven 
give  good  things  to  those  that  love  Him?"  "Not 
a  sparrow  shall  fall  to  the  ground  without  your 
Father ;  "  "  By  Him  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are 
all  numbered ;  "  but  by  the  spontaneous,  involuntary 
way  in  which  He  keeps  reiterating  that  expression 
'*  My  Father,"  we  can  see  for  ourselves  that  His 
Father's  love  was  the  familiar,  most  natural  and  ever 
present  thought  of  His  mind.  And,  in  this  connection, 
it  is  to  be  observed  that  we  never  find  Him,  in  the 
Gospel,  referring  to  His  human  parents  or  betray- 
ing those  instinctive  feelings  with  which  a  younger 
generation  looks  up  to  the  generation  which  pre- 
cedes it.  Filial  obedience  and  affectionate  reverence 
appear   in   those   passages  where  Joseph  and  Mary 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      4 1 

are  mentioned,  and  during  the  period  of  His  youth 
and  early  manhood,  our  Lord  has  set  an  example  of 
filial  duty  to  every  child  of  human  parents.  Indeed, 
all  through  the  years  that  followed  His  visit  to 
Jerusalem,  when  He  was  twelve  years  of  age,  we 
read  that  He  went  down  to  Nazareth  and  was  sub- 
ject unto  them ;  and  even  up  to  the  time  when,  at 
the  age  of  thirty,  He  began  His  public  ministry,  He 
appears  to  have  been  an  inmate  of  that  home  at 
Nazareth ;  but  where  in  the  whole  Gospels  do  we 
find  Him  revealing,  by  a  single  word,  the  ordinary 
human  consciousness  of  being  the  son  of  a  human 
parent? 

In  several  places,  it  is  true,  Joseph  and  Mary  are 
spoken  of  by  others  as  His  parents ;  and  one  of  these 
passages,  it  is  noteworthy,  is  to  be  found  in  the  very 
chapter  of  St.  Luke's  Gospel  which  records  His 
miraculous  birth ;  but  throughout  the  whole  Gospel 
narrative  our  Lord  never  is  recorded  as  addressing, 
or  even  referring  to  Joseph.  At  the  close  of  that 
visit  to  Jerusalem  to  which  we  have  already  referred, 
the  child  Jesus  w^as  lost.  When,  after  three  days, 
Mary  found  Him  in  the  Temple,  and  said,  ''  Son, 
why  hast  thou  thus  dealt  with  us  ?  behold  Thy  father 
and  I  have  sought  Thee  sorrowing,"  His  immediate 
reply  was,  "  Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  My 
Father's  business  ?  "  It  was  as  though  there  were 
something  in  the  Virgin's  w^ords  that  had  a  false 
ring  in  His  ears  and  jarred  painfully  with  His  per- 
sonal consciousness.  His  response  came,  almost  in  the 
form  of  a  gentle  rebuke ;  when  she  spoke  of  a  human 
father,  He,  in  his  reply,  referred  instantly  to  a  Divine 
Father. 


42  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Thus  was  it  on  one  other  occasion,  even  with  His 
mother  herself.  When  the  Virgin  with  His  breth- 
ren stood  without  the  door,  unable  to  reach  Him  in 
the  crowd,  and  a  messenger  came,  saying,  "  Thy 
mother  and  Thy  brethren  stand  without,  desiring  to 
speak  with  Thee,"  He  instantly  —  and,  as  it  were, 
instinctively  —  replied:  ''Who  is  My  mother?  and 
who  are  My  brethren?  And  He  stretched  forth  His 
hand  toward  His  disciples  and  said,  Behold  My 
mother  and  My  brethern  !  for  whosoever  shall  do  the 
will  of  My  Father  which  is  in  Heaven,  the  same  is 
My  brother,  and  sister,  and  mother."  ^  Does  not  the 
same  gentle,  instinctive  protest  appear  here,  against 
those  who  claimed  to  have  a  nearer  relationship  to 
Him  than  He  in  the  power  of  His  Divine  Personality 
recognized?  Again,  when  a  certain  woman  in  a 
crowd  cried  out,  "  Blessed  is  the  womb  that  bare 
Thee  and  the  paps  that  Thou  hast  sucked,"  His 
immediate  reply  was,  *'Yea,  rather  blessed  are  they 
that  hear  the  word  of  God  and  keep  it."^  The  only 
other  occasions,  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  where 
Christ  addresses  the  Virgin  directly  are,  first,  at  the 
marriage  of  Cana  of  Galilee,  when,  in  response  to 
the  Virgin's  exclamation,  **  They  have  no  wine,"  our 
Lord  said,  ''  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee?  " 
and  second,  when  on  the  Cross  He  committed  her  to 
the  care  of  St.  John  with  those  words,  **  Woman, 
behold  thy  son." 

If  Christ  had  no  human  personality  all  this  becomes 

plain.     He  possessed  our  human   nature   in  all  the 

perfection   of  its  powers,  but  it  was  a  human  nature 

without  a  human  selfhood,   without  the  separations 

1  St.  Matt.  xii.  48-50.  ^  gt.  Luke  xi.  27,  28. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      43 

that  human  individuality  necessitates,  without  the 
egoisms  that  condition  human  personahties,  without 
the  Hmitations  which  belong  to  a  human  self. 

Christ  was  Man,  not  a  man.  He  was  the  Son  of 
man,  the  Universal  Man,  the  Elder  Brother  of  the 
whole  human  race.  And  it  was  for  this  reason  that 
He  so  instinctively  resisted  the  claim  of  His  human 
relatives  to  be  nearer  to  Him  than  others  were.  It 
was  not  that  He  was  destitute  of  filial  or  fraternal 
affection,  or  even  that  there  was  an  absence  of  in- 
dividuahty  in  His  love ;  but  it  was  because  He  lavished 
upon  all  who  did  the  will  of  God  that  same  kind  of 
love  which,  with  ordinary  men,  would  be  confined  to 
mother  and  brethren  and  blood  relatives. 

It  needs  but  a  short  experience  of  Christian  work 
in  Christ's  name  to  discover  that  we  cannot  possibly 
love  the  world,  and  the  men  of  this  world,  as  Christ 
Himself  loved  them.  Oicr  love  has  its  limitations. 
We  may  have,  in  some  faint  degree  smouldering  in 
our  hearts,  Christ's  passion  to  save  the  lost,  but  our 
personal  attachments  are  confined  to  a  few.  Our 
Lord's  love  for  souls  was  Divine  as  well  as  human.  He 
claimed  all  men  as  His  brothers,  not  only  in  the 
way  in  which  we  love  those  who  are  nearest  and 
dearest  to  us,  but  in  a  far  deeper  and  wider  sense. 
And  He  could  manifest  this  kind  of  personal  love  for 
all  who  do  the  Avill  of  God,  simply  because  He  was  a 
Divine  Person,  Who  did  not  feel  those  separations 
and  limitations  which  fetter  the  love  of  every  human 
personality. 

Keeping  in  mind  this  thought  of  Christ's  Divine 
Selfhood,  we  have  the  clue  to  the  real  meaning  of 
words  and  events  in  Christ's  life  which  would  other- 


44  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

wise  be  very  difficult  to  comprehend.  Take,  for  ex- 
ample, the  self-assertion  of  Christ  as  it  is  manifested 
in  such  passages  as  these :  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  My  words  shall  not  pass  away;"^ 
"I  am  the  door;"^  **  I  am  the  Good  Shepherd;"^ 
"  I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life ;  "  ^  ''  I  am 
the  Resurrection  and  the  Life;  "  ^  "No  man  cometh 
unto  the  Father  but  by  Me ;  "  ^  *'  I  am  the  Vine, 
ye  are  the  branches  .  .  .  without  Me  ye  can  do 
nothing."''  If  any  human  master,  however  great, 
spoke  words  like  these,  they  would  offend  and  an- 
tagonize us  as  the  utterances  of  an  egoist.  Why? 
Just  because  our  human  personalities  are  outside  of 
and  separate  from  one  another.  Christ,  on  the  con- 
trary, does  not  offend  us;  He  attracts  us  when  He 
thus  speaks,  because  we  feel  instinctively  that  the 
Being  Who  speaks  is  not  a  human  person  but  a 
Divine  Person.  It  is  not  a  personality  that  is  outside 
of  our  own,  but  a  Personality  which  overshadows  us 
from  above ;  a  Personality  in  Whom  all  men  are 
drawn  together  and  united. 

So  it  is  with  the  Atonement.  No  one  man  can 
die,  and  by  dying  blot  out  the  sins  of  another  man, 
because  our  human  personalities  are  separate  and 
outside  of  one  another;  but  if  the  Being  Who  dies 
is  not  a  man,  but  universal  Manhood,  not  a  human 
person,  but  the  God  in  Whom  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being,  —  then  we  can  understand  how  the 
blood    of  Jesus    Christ   cleanseth   us    from    all    sin. 

1  St.  Matt.  xxiv.  35.  4  St.  John  xiv.  6. 

2  St.  John  X.  g.  ^  St.  John  xi.  25. 
8  St.  Johnx.  II,  14.                           6  St.  John  xiv.  6. 

"'  St.  John  XV.  5. 


THE    VIRGIN    BIRTH    AND    THE    NEW    ADAM      45 

Half  of  men's  perplexities  about  the  Atonement  arise 
from  the  fact  that  they  always  think  of  Christ  as 
having  a  human  personality. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  Resurrection.  When 
Christ  says,  *'  because  I  live  ye  shall  live  also,"  we 
at  once  begin  to  think  of  the  limitations  of  human 
life.  How  can  one  man's  rising  from  the  grave  affect 
our  destinies  after  death?  what  possible  connection 
can  there  be  between  his  life  and  our  life  .-*  But  the 
moment  we  remember  Who  it  is  that  rises,  —  the  Per- 
son by  Whom  all  things  were  made,  and  without 
Whom  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made ;  the 
Person  Who  is  Himself  the  Resurrection  and  the 
Life, —  all  becomes  plain. 

So  also  with  the  Ascension.  It  is  utterly  incon- 
ceivable, however  holy  any  human  person  might  be, 
that  all  power  should  be  given  him  in  Heaven  and 
on  earth.  It  is  utterly  inconceivable,  likewise,  that 
any  human  father  should  be  able  to  claim  a  parental 
relationship  to  the  Being  sitting  on  the  throne  of 
the  Heaven  of  heavens  as  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of 
kings."  The  very  thought  itself  appears  blasphe- 
mous. But  all  seems  right  when  we  think  of  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God,  descending  to  this  earth  to  become 
the  Son  of  man,  that  the  sons  of  men  might  become 
sons  of  God,  and  then  "ascending  up  where  He  was 
before." 

At  the  beginning  of  God's  revelation  to  man, 
and  as  a  promise  given  to  Eve  at  the  very  time  of 
the  curse,  stands  the  Protevangelion,  the  first  prophecy 
of  the  Bible,  "The  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise 
the  head  of  the  serpent."  However  men  may  treat 
this  mysterious  promise  and  explain  away  its  mean- 


46  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

ing,  it  is  remarkable  that,  in  the  fulness  of  times, 
the  exact  and  literal  fulfilment  came  when  God  sent 
His  only  Son  into  the  world,  and  Jesus  Christ  was 
"  conceived  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of  the  Virgin 
Mary." 


CHAPTER    III 
THE    GOSPEL   OF    IMMORTALITY 

IS  there  a  life  to  come?  Wherever  one  travels, 
the  wide  world  over,  one  finds  Christians, 
Mohammedans,  Buddhists,  Indians,  even  South  Sea 
Islanders,  believing,  either  definitely  or  vaguely,  in 
a  life  to  come.  And  when  we  gaze  back  into  the 
past,  we  discover  that  as  it  is  now,  so  it  has  always 
been.  The  human  race  seems  impelled,  as  by  a 
divine  instinct,   to  believe  in  a  life  to  come. 

This  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  has  been 
described  by  some  modern  thinkers  as  the  result  of 
a  slow  evolution  of  religious  thought  that  has  been 
going  on  for  ages,  but  the  annals  of  the  past  tell  a 
different  story.  As  we  look  back  into  antiquity, 
—  back  to  the  time  when  all  Europe  was  a  wilder- 
ness of  woods;  back  to  those  forgotten  centuries 
before  Brahmanism  or  Buddhism  were  ever  heard  of 
in  India,  or  Zoroastrianism  in  Persia,  or  Confucian- 
ism in  China;  back  of  the  time  of  Moses  and  even 
of  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful ;  back  to  the 
days  when  the  wdiole  race  of  Israel  and  the  Jewish 
religion  were  yet  in  the  unborn  future;  we  come 
at  last  to  the  religion  of  Ancient  Egypt.  We 
need  no  Egyptologist  or  skilled  oriental  scholar  to 
tell  us  what  that  Egyptian  religion  was  like,  for  every 
modern  traveller  sees  the  monuments  of  its  belief. 


48  NEW   TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

many  of  them  built  more  than  three  or  four  thousand 
years  ago,  rising  upon  every  side,  as  he  journeys  up 
the  Nile;  and  those  monuments  proclaim,  in  almost 
every  line,  the  doctrine  of  immortality. 


I 

Whatever  changes  took  place  in  the  national 
religion,  as  dynasty  followed  dynasty  and  new 
names  for  old  deities  were  adopted,  that  one  in- 
tense, passionate,  all-mastering  desire  for  the  life 
to  come  dominated  and  assimilated  all  variations  of 
religious  belief. 

It  expressed  itself  in  their  very  buildings,  for 
eternity  was  the  ruling  idea  of  all  Egyptian  archi- 
tecture; and  their  structures,  from  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid to  the  obelisks  that  meet  the  eye  on  every 
hand,  were  raised  to  stand  forever.  It  expressed 
itself  in  their  magnificent  tombs,  which  were 
veritable  cities  of  the  dead ;  it  expressed  itself  in 
their  desire,  as  far  as  possible,  to  immortalize  the 
perishable  body  by  embalming  it;  it  expressed  it- 
self in  those  painted  hieroglyphics  that  covered 
the  sarcophagus,  wherein  the  winged  soul  appears 
hovering  over  the  heart  of  the  dead,  as  though 
escaping  from  the  body;  it  expressed  itself  in  the 
pictured  representations  of  the  dead  man,  appear- 
ing in  the  presence  of  the  gods  to  be  judged  by 
them,  according  to  the  life  he  had  lived  in  this 
world  of  probation ;  it  expressed  itself,  most  vividly 
of  all,  in  the  remarkable  myth  of  Osiris. 

As  far  as  that  myth  has  as  yet  been  deciphered  it 
reads  as  follows :  — 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  49 

Osiris  descends  to  earth  and  appears  here  as  a 
man.  He  comes  in  conflict  with  Typhon,  the 
power  of  darkness,  by  whom  he  is  slain.  After 
his  death,  he  becomes  the  judge  of  the  dead,  and 
is  recognized  among  the  gods  by  the  mummied 
cerements,  the  symbol  of  having  passed  through 
death,  which  enclose  his  lower  limbs.  Before  him 
the  dead  are  brought,  when  they  enter  the  other 
world,  to  be  judged  according  to  the  deeds  done  in 
the  flesh.  They  are  weighed  in  the  balances,  and 
if  they  are  found  worthy  of  immortal  life,  they  are 
allowed,  after  a  certain  period,  to  return  for  the  em- 
balmed body,  which  thereupon  becomes  immorta- 
lized also.^  What  happens  to  the  disembodied  soul, 
if  judged  unworthy,  is  uncertain,  for,  at  this  point, 
the  myth  becomes  obscure,  owing  to  the  varying 
religious  beliefs  held  in  different  parts  of  Egypt. 
Here  was  a  creed,  held  by  a-  civilized  people  before 
the  days  of  Moses,  that  almost  anticipated  Chris- 
tianity itself,  in  its  intimations  of  a  life  to  come. 

And  this  was  the  atmosphere  of  religious  thought 
and  belief  in  which  the  children  of  Israel  lived, 
through  the  four  hundred  years  of  their  sojourn  in 
the  land  of  Egypt.  All  of  them  must  have  been 
indoctrinated  from  earliest  childhood  in  the  details 
of  this  belief;  many  of  them  must  have  helped  to 
embalm  the  dead,  and  assisted  as  slaves  in  the 
painting  of  those  sarcophagi  on  which  this  whole 
story  of  Osiris  was  delineated. 

Yet,    when   we   turn  to  the  Old  Testament,  the 

1  There  appear  to  have  been  various  beliefs,  in  different  parts  of 
Egypt,  as  to  the  exact  relation  between  the  ethereal  Ka  and  the 
embalmed  body. 

4 


50  NEW   TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

doctrine  of  human  immortality  is  conspicuous  by  its 
absence.  Moses,  we  read,  was  brought  up  as  the 
son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter  in  the  reign  of  Rameses 
11. ,  the  greatest  of  all  the  Pharaohs  and  the  one 
whose  monuments  are  most  numerous;  Moses  was, 
moreover,  "  skilled  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyp- 
tians." Jewish  tradition  even  goes  so  far  as  to  tell 
us  that  he  was  educated  as  an  Egyptian  priest ;  yet 
Moses  utters  not  one  word  in  all  his  writings  about 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  Many  are  the  refer- 
ences in  the  Pentateuch  to  Egyptian  life  and 
manners  and  customs.  It  is  a  fact,  undisputed  by 
the  Higher  Criticism,  even  in  its  extreme  forms, 
that  Israel  came  out  of  Egypt.  It  is  granted  by 
every  biblical  scholar  that  the  Exodus  itself  is  an 
event  which  forms  the  basis  of  Old  Testament 
theology ;  yet  nowhere  is  there  any  reference  to  the 
religious  belief  of  Egypt  or  to  the  doctrine  of 
immortality. 

What  is  the  explanation  of  this  strange  silence.? 
Was  it  because  the  depised  Hebrew  slaves  were 
treated  by  their  task-masters  as  an  inferior  race, 
who  had  no  share  in  the  hope  or  the  immortality  of 
the  more  favored  Egyptian.?  or  was  it  because  the 
Hebrews  felt  that  the  Egyptians  dishonored  their 
high  belief  by  the  low  moral  level  of  their  daily  lives } 
There  is  nothing  that  antagonizes  and  alienates  the 
mass  of  men  more  surely  than  unreality  in  religion. 
In  the  religious  history  of  the  past,  we  behold,  after 
every  reformation,  an  intense  and  violent  dislike, 
on  the  part  of  the  reformers,  to  the  particular  doc- 
trines, rites,  and  practices  which  were  the  most 
flagrant  examples  of  such  unreality.     We  certainly 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  5 1 

detect  unmistakable  traces  in  the  Hebrew  writings 
of  such  repugnance  to  Egyptian  life,  and  it  may 
well  have  been  that  here  was  one  cause  for  the 
absence  of  all  allusion  on  the  pages  of  the  Old 
Testament  to  the  Egyptian  doctrine  of  immortality. 
But  it  does  not  explain  the  studied  omission  of  the 
doctrine  itself,  apart  from  its  Egyptian  associations, 
for  centuries  after  the  Exodus.  There  was  a  spiritual 
as  well  as  a  natural  reason  for  the  omission.  In 
this  complete  historic  break  with  the  past,  we 
behold  an  undoubted  proof  of  the  inspiration  of  the 
Old  Testament. 

II 

In  the  very  beginning  of  God's  revelation  to  man 
appears  the  statement  that  when  God  drove  Adam 
from  Paradise  with  the  sentence  of  death.  He  placed 
"at  the  east  of  the  garden  "  Cherubim  and  a  flaming 
sword,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life. 

The  human  race  might  long  for  the  life  to  come. 
Men  might  take  it  for  granted,  and,  following  a 
divine  instinct,  might  create  beautiful  myths  of  a 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  until,  as  in  the  case  of 
ancient  Egypt,  this  became  the  ruling  idea  of  a 
nation's  life.  But  the  Egyptian  immortality  had  no 
power  to  hold  the  nation  up  to  its  high  moral  ideal 
or  influence  its  ethical  and  spiritual  development ; 
and  the  children  of  Israel,  w^ho  had  become  for  cen- 
turies familiar  with  the  religion  of  Egypt,  had  to  be 
educated,  by  centuries  of  training,  out  of  the  false 
idea  of  immortality  which  the  Egyptians  held. 
Viewed  in  this  light,  the  silence  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment becomes  more  eloquent,  more  expressive  than 


52  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

words.  For  while  the  argument  from  silence  may 
generally  be  received  with  caution,  here  its  teach- 
ing is  as  plain  as  day.  It  applies  equally  to  the 
myths  of  ancient  Egypt  and  to  the  speculations 
about  the  immortality  of  the  soul  that  are  so  preva- 
lent at  the  present  day.  The  silence  of  the  Old 
Testament  stands  side  by  side  with  the  silence  of 
Nature  itself.  Neither  give  anything  more  than 
vague,  mysterious  intimations  of  the  life  to  come. 
Everything  in  the  way  of  proof  or  evidence  is  care- 
fully held  back  and  hidden  from  all  human  eyes. 
The  purpose  of  God  our  Father  is  here  made  so 
plain  that  we  cannot  possibly  misread  it.  Before 
the  Jews  were  prepared  to  receive  true  ideas  of  im- 
mortality, they  needed  to  have  true  ideas  of  God 
Himself,  from  Whom  all  immortal  life  proceeds. 


Ill 

All  this  is  strikingly  brought  out  in  the  way  in 
which  God  dealt  with  their  future  leader,  in  the 
vision  of  the  burning  bush,  before  the  Exodus  took 
place.  Moses,  it  will  be  remembered,  filled  with  a 
sense  of  the  burning  wrongs  of  his  people,  had  slain 
an  Egyptian;  and  when  Pharaoh  threatened  his  life 
in  consequence,  he  fled  to  the  wilderness  of  Mount 
Sinai,  there  to  pour  out  his  heart  to  God,  and  to  be 
trained  by  God,  amid  the  solitudes  of  a  shepherd's 
life,  for  his  future  work.  Moses  was  born  with  the 
heart  and  instincts  of  a  reformer.  Trained  in  the 
wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  he  now  had  time  to  pon- 
der, and  realize  how  utterly  imperfect  all  wisdom 
was  that  was  not  founded  upon  right  ideas  of  God 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  53 

and  true  spiritual  conceptions  of  God's  service;  how 
artificial  that  Egyptian  belief  in  a  resurrection  must 
be  which  had  no  power  to  elevate  the  actual  moral 
life  of  the  people ;  how  unreal  were  all  ideas  of  a 
life  to  come,  in  which  shallow  sentiment  or  poetic 
myths  were  substituted  for  the  ethical  instincts  of 
human  souls  made  in  God's  image  and  longing  for 
His  Presence;  and  how  immeasurably  superior  his 
own  despised  nation  were,  with  their  simple  moral 
belief  in  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  to 
their  highly  cultivated  but  corrupt  Egyptian  oppres- 
sors, with  all  their  mythological  gods  and  their 
beautiful  visions  of  a  future  life.  In  our  study  of 
holy  Scripture,  we  find  that  God  never  sends  a 
revelation  to  one  of  his  chosen  servants  until  he 
is  thus  prepared  beforehand  for  it,  and  until, 
through  prayer  and  silent  pondering,  his  mind  is 
ripe  for  the  message  that  comes  from  on  high.  And 
so  it  was  with  Moses  when  God  met  him  at  the 
burning  bush,  and  revealed  Himself  first  as  the  God 
of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  and  then  as 
''I  AM,"  the  Self-Existent  One. 

We  should  never  have  known  or  realized  the  pro- 
found ethical  meaning  of  this  revelation  or  its  won- 
drous adaptation  to  the  religious  experience  through 
which  the  Hebrev/s  had  been  passing  in  Egypt,  had 
it  not  been  for  Christ.  A  few  days  before  our  Lord's 
crucifixion,  the  Sadducees  —  who  denied  that  there 
was  any  life  after  death,  or  any  trace  of  a  belief  in 
immortality  in  the  five  books  of  Moses  —  came  to 
Christ  and  virtually  asked  Him  to  point  to  a  single 
passage  of  the  Pentateuch  where  that  doctrine  was 
taught.     Our  Lord's  memorable  answer  was:    "Ye 


54  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of 
God.  ...  As  touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
have  ye  not  read  that  which  was  spoken  to  you  by 
God,  saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of 
Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob?  God  is  not  the  God  of 
the  dead,  but  of  the  living."  ^ 

Thus  it  was,  then,  that  God  had  met  the  troubled 
religious  thought  and  deep  moral  misgivings  of 
Moses  and  the  Hebrews  regarding  the  kind  of 
immortality  which  the  Egyptians  preached  and  be- 
lieved. Immortal  life  begins,  not  at  man,  but  at 
God.  It  does  not  exist  separate  from  the  life  of 
God  Himself.  Even  the  patriarchs,  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  had  no  independent  life  of  their 
own  apart  from  God.  Those  who  knew  God  and 
obeyed  Him  could  unreservedly  commit  the  keep- 
ing of  their  souls  to  Him  as  to  a  faithful  Creator. 
The  children  of  Israel  were  prepared  to  receive 
the  revelation  of  this  truth,  for  it  met  and  an- 
swered their  own  unspoken  thoughts,  and  it  would 
come  as  a  word  of  power  appealing  to  their  deepest 
religious  instincts;  therefore  when  Moses  said  to 
God,  "Behold,  when  I  come  to  the  children  of  Israel 
what  shall  I  say  unto  them .? "  the  answer  God  put 
into  his  mouth  was:  "Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  the 
children  of  Israel,  I  AM  hath  sent  me  unto  you."  .  .  . 
"The  Lord  God  of  your  fathers,  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  hath 
sent  me  unto  you:  this  is  My  Name  forever, 
and  this  is  My  Memorial  unto  all  generations. ^ 
Henceforth,  that  revelation  that  God  was  I  AM, 
the  Ever-Living  One,  was  enough  for  the  Hebrews. 

1  St.  Matt.  xxii.  29,  31,  32.  2  Exod.  iii.  14,  15. 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  55 

If  He  were  the  Fountain  of  all  Life,  they  might 
leave  all  visions  of  the  life  to  come  with  Him. 
This  explains  the  reason  why  the  doctrine  of  immor- 
tality does  not  specifically  appear  on  the  pages  of  the 
Old  Testament,  — the  Jews  were  satisfied  in  leaving 
the  future  to  God.  They  were  all  the  more  content 
to  do  so,  because  the  dominating  influence  or  char- 
acteristic of  their  whole  religious  history  was  the 
expectation  of  the  promised  Messiah,  — the  promised 
Seed  of  the  woman.  Who  should  bruise  the  head  of 
the  serpent ;  ^  the  promised  Prophet,  Whom  the  Lord 
should  raise  up  like  unto  Moses /'^  the  promised 
Priest,  Who  should  be  made  a  priest  forever  after 
the  order  of  Melchizedek;^  the  promised  King,  Who 
should  sit  as  David's  Son  on  David's  throne,  and 
be  known  as  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  Almighty 
God,  the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace.* 
Every  succeeding  prophet  added  to  the  glowing 
promises  of  those  who  had  gone  before  regard- 
ing the  golden  age  of  this  King  Messiah,  of  the 
increase  of  W^hose  government  there  should  be  no 
end,  and  Who  would  establish  it  with  judgment  and 
justice  forever;  and  this  vision  of  future  glory  so 
lightened  up,  with  hope  and  anticipation,  the  whole 
horizon  surrounding  the  children  of  Israel,  that  all 
other  considerations  were  lost  sight  of;  they  paused 
not  to  think,  like  other  nations,  of  the  problems  of 
existence,  the  mysteries  of  mind  and  matter,  of  good 
and  evil,  of  life  and  death,  or  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul. 

There  are,  indeed,  a  few  passages  where  life  after 

1  Gen.  iii.  15.  3  Psalm  ex.  4. 

2  Deut.  xviii.  18.  *  Isaiah  ix.  6,  7. 


56  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

death  is,  or  seems  to  be,  set  forth,  especially  after 
the  Babylonian  Captivity  had  blotted  out  from  the 
mind  Egypt  and  the  former  house  of  bondage;  but 
these  passages  only  appear  after  the  Hebrews  had 
been  educated  out  of  the  false  immortality  of  the 
Egyptians,  and,  without  an  exception,  they  refer  to 
the  coming  Messiah  and  the  immortal  life  He  will 
bring  with  Him. 


IV 

By  and  by  that  promised  Messiah  came,  bringing 
life  and  immortality  to  light  with  a  fulness  and 
completeness  that  revealed  how  much  more  God 
means  in  His  promises  than  the  heart  of  man  ever 
anticipates.  God  had  commanded  Moses  to  tell  the 
children  of  Israel  that  I  AM  had  sent  him,  and  that 
He  was  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob. 
We  have  seen  how  Christ  illumined  the  whole  his- 
tory of  the  Old  Testament  when  He  unfolded  to  the 
Sadducees  the  inner  meaning  of  those  words.  Let 
us  now  note  how  He  completes  that  revelation. 

Our  Lord's  ministry  was  drawing  to  its  close;  He 
was  in  the  Temple  teaching,  and  as  His  custom  was. 
He  was  leading  his  hearers  on  step  by  step.  He 
had  been  telling  the  Jews  that  many  who  rejoiced 
to  be  reckoned  as  the  children  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob  were  really,  unlike  their  father  Abraham 
himself,  the  servants  and  slaves  of  sin,  and  there- 
fore were  separated  from  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob.  When  they  responded,  "We  be  Abra- 
ham's seed  and  were  never  in  bondage  to  any  man, 
Abraham    is    our    Father,"    our    Lord    replied   that 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  57 

Abraham  would  never,  like  them,  have  sought  to 
kill  a  prophet  from  God  who  told  them  God's  truth; 
and  then  added  solemnly :  '*  Amen,  amen,  I  say 
unto  you.  If  a  man  keep  My  saying,  he  shall  never 
see  death." 

The  words  produced  the  very  effect  that  Christ 
intended  they  should,  and  the  Jews  answered : 
"  Abraham  is  dead  and  the  prophets  are  dead,  and 
Thou  sayest  if  a  man  keep  My  saying  he  shall  never 
taste  of  death.  Art  Thou  greater  than  Abraham  and 
the  prophets  ?  Whom  makest  Thou,  Thyself .?  "  Still 
leading  them  on,  our  Lord  replied:  "Your  father 
Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  My  day,  and  he  saw  it  and 
was  glad."  Then,  when  the  Jews  in  bewilderment 
and  astonished  indignation  cried  out,  "Thou  art  not 
yet  fifty  years  old  and  hast  T/iot^  seen  Abraham  ? " 
came  the  tremendous  revelation  for  which  Christ 
had  gradually  been  preparing  their  minds:  "Amen, 
Amen,  I  say  unto  you  before  Abraham  was  I  AM."  ^ 

Christ  Himself  was  the  Speaker  at  the  burning 
bush.  Who  had  revealed  Himself  to  Moses  as  the 
God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  That  incom- 
municable Name  "I  AM,"  which  betokened  that  He 
was  the  Fountain  of  all  life  to  the  quick  and  the 
dead,  and  which  He  of  old  time  had  declared  to  be 
"  His  Name  forever  and  His  Memorial  unto  all  gen- 
eration," was  now  once  more  declared.  The  light  of 
Heaven  had  broken  in  this  lower  world ;  the  revela- 
tion had  reached  its  climax  and  completion  in  His 
incarnate  Life,  Who  was  both  Son  of  God  and  Son  of 
Man.  And  now,  when  Christ  stood  self-disclosed, 
as  the  Self-Existent  One,  Who  was  the  Light  of  the 

1  St.  John  viii.  33-58. 


58  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

world  and  the  Life  of  Men,  that  revelation  of 
immortality  in  Him  became  daily  more  clear  and 
explicit.  ''I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life, 
and  that  they  might  have  it  more  abundantly."  ^ 
"My  sheep  hear  My  voice  and  they  follow  Me, 
and  1  give  unto  them  eternal  life;  and  they  shall 
never  perish,  neither  shall  any  man  pluck  them 
out  of  My  hand.  My  Father,  which  gave  them 
Me,  is  greater  than  all,  and  no  man  is  able  to  pluck 
them  out  of  My  Father's  hand.  I  and  My  Father 
are  One. "^  "I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life. 
He  that  believeth  in  Me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet 
shall  he  live.  And  he  that  liveth  and  believeth  in 
Me  shall  never  die.'' ^  "This  is  Life  Eternal,  that 
they  might  know  Thee,  the  only  True  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent. "  *  And  St.  John, 
the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  adds  :  "  He  that  hath 
the  Son  hath  Life,  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of 
God  hath  not  life.^ 

Nothing  could  be  plainer  than  these  declarations. 
The  Christless  immortality  of  the  Egyptians,  as 
well  as  the  Christless  immortality  that  is  believed 
and  preached  by  so  many  at  the  present  day,  is 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God.  The  New  Testament 
brings  out  the  teaching  of  the  Old.  There  is 
from  beginning  to  end  no  reference  to  any  eternal 
life  save  life  in  Christ. 

The  assumption,  so  often  taken  for  granted  that 
such  blessed  immortality  is  inherent  in  human 
nature  and  that  it  belongs  to  every  man  as  a  birth- 

1  St.  John  X.  lo.  3  St,  John  xi.  25,  26. 

2  St.  John  X.  27-30.  *  St.  John  xvii.  3. 

^  I  John  V.  12. 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  59 

right,  by  virtue  of  his  having  been  made  in  the 
image  of  God,  is  not  only  an  hyjDOthesis  unsupported 
by  any  fact  of  Scripture,  but  a  theory  for  which 
there  is  not  a  particle  of  proof  or  vestige  of  evidence 
in  Nature  itself.  The  God  of  Nature  and  the  Bible 
has  carefully  shut  out  all  kind  of  proof  in  order 
that  we  might  be  compelled  to  go  to  Christ,  in 
Whom  alone  the  promise  of  a  life  to  come  is  cen- 
tred. We  have  heard  Christ's  own  direct  and  cor- 
roborative statements  of  this  truth.  He,  and  He 
alone,  is  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life;  the  Way, 
the  Truth,  and  the  Life.  No  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father  but  by  Him. 

V 

But  Christ  did  not  stop  here,  leaving  us  to  rest 
upon  His  word  alone.  The  Jews  in  His  day  wanted 
something  more  than  words;  they  were  constantly 
craving  and  asking  for  "a  sign.''  The  07ie  sign  upon 
which  He  kept  concentrating  their  attention,  and  to 
which  He  persistently  pointed  forward,  as  the  proof 
positive  which  would  establish  for  all  time  the 
fact  that  He  was  indeed  the  Resurrection  and  the 
Life,  was  His  own  rising  again  from  the  dead.^  And 
it  is  strange,  but  perfectly  natural  from  a  psycho- 
logical point  of  view,  that  while  His  own  disciples 
forgot  these  predictions  until  after  the  Resurrection, 
His  enemies  remembered  them  so  distinctly  that 
they  endeavored  to  make  one  of  tbem,^  uttered  in 
Jerusalem,  at  the  very  beginning  of   His  ministry, 

1  St.  Matt.  xii.  39,  40;  xvi.  21;  xvii.  9;  xx.  19;  xxvi.  32,  61;  St. 
Mark  ix.  9;  X.  34;  xiv.  28  ;  xvi.  7  ;  St.  Luke  xviii.  t^t^. 

2  St.  John  ii.  19-22. 


6o  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

the  charge  upon  which  the  great  Sanhedrim  should 
condemn  Him  to  death ;i  and  afterwards  quoted  an- 
other to  Pilate,  the  Roman  Governor,  saying:  **  Sir, 
we  remember  that  that  deceiver  said,  while  He  was 
yet  alive,  after  three  days  I  will  rise  again.  "^ 

The  Resurrection  of  Christ  came  home  to  the 
hearts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Christians  of  New 
Testament  days,  after  their  first  strong  impulse  to 
doubt  was  overpast,  with  all  the  tremendous,  over- 
whelming force  of  an  historical  fact  that  brought 
certainty  to  their  eyesight  and  physical  senses,  cer- 
tainty to  their  common  sense  and  reasoning  powers, 
certainty  to  their  conscience  and  sense  of  right, 
certainty  to  those  spiritual  instincts  regarding  a 
life  to  come  in  union  with  God,  and  an  answer  to 
those  longings  for  the  Presence  of  God  which  they 
felt  that  God  Himself,  had  planted  in  their  breasts. 


VI 

And  when  this  reposeful  certainty  and  assurance 
of  Christ's  Resurrection  became  a  part  of  their  life, 
it  raised  them  out  of  and  above  their  former  selves 
to  think  and  reason  and  live  on  a  higher  level.  To 
express  it  in  their  own  words,  they  knew  that  they 
were  "risen  with  Christ "  to  a  higher  kind  of  exist- 
ence than  they  had  ever  known  or  experienced 
before.  It  had  brought  to  them  an  absolutely  new 
revelation  of  the  meaning  of  that  word  "  Life  "  as  it 
had   been   so  frequently  used    by   Christ.     "  Life " 

1  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  6i  ;  St.  Mark  xiv,  58.  Compare  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  40, 
St.  Mark  xv.  29. 

2  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  6^. 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  6 1 

was  no  longer  limited  and  circumscribed  by  earthly 
conditions,  nor  was  it  terminated  by  death.  As 
they  stood  in  the  presence  of  the  risen  Christ 
and  felt  the  reality  of  the  life  to  come, — the 
life  that  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  grave,  — that 
consciousness  gave  a  new  meaning  to  the  life 
on  this  side  of  the  grave;  they  realized  the  conti- 
nuity of  life  here  and  hereafter,  and  the  oneness 
of  the  life  of  earth  and  the  life  of  Heaven.  They 
felt  the  power  of  an  endless  life  stirring  within 
them,  making  spiritual  things  more  natural  and 
natural  things  more  spiritual.  They  were  risen 
with  Christ  to  newness  of  life  and  freshness  of 
being. 

VII 

And  this  feeling  —  this  consciousness  of  oneness 
with  Christ  in  His  risen  life  —  was  intensified  by 
the  fact  that  Christ  had  arisen  from  the  dead  in 
body  as  well  as  soul.  Though  His  former  physical 
nature  was  changed  and  immortalized;  though  His 
human  body  was  different  from  what  it  had  been 
before  and  possessed  new  powers,^  yet  it  was  still 
the  same  body,  the  same  voice,  the  same  face, 
the  same  pierced  hands  and  wounded  side.  As 
He  rose,   so  one  day  they  too  should  rise. 

It  is  instructive  to  observe  how  near  the  ancient 
religion  of  Egypt  came  to  this  resurrection  truth, 
and  yet  how  utterly  that  religion  failed  because  it 
did  not,  and  could  not,  discern  that  the  higher  life 
was  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 

1  St.  Mark  xvi.  12;  St.  Luke  x.xiv.  16,  31,  2>^\  St.  John  xx.  15, 
19,  etc. 


62  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

The  Egyptians  believed,  not  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  but  of  soul  and  body  together.  They 
held  that  the  dead,  as  long  as  they  remained  dis- 
embodied spirits,  were  excluded  from  Heaven  and 
could  not  have  fulness  of  life,  except  in  the  per- 
fection of  their  human  powers.  And  this  was  the 
reason  why  the  Egyptians  expended  such  enormous 
cost  upon  their  tombs;  why  they  embalmed  and 
took  such  scrupulous  care  of  the  bodies  of  their 
dead ;  and  why  this  ruling  idea  survived  all  changes, 
as  dynasty  followed  dynasty,  and  different  forms  of 
religion  swept  over  the  land. 

The  very  persistence  of  the  belief  is  a  proof  how 
vividly  it  expressed  a  divine  instinct  of  human 
nature.  And  it  was,  indeed,  a  marvellous  approxi- 
mation to  Christian  truth.  Never  has  the  human 
mind,  in  following  its  own  intuitions,  come  nearer 
to  divine  reality.  For  Christianity  itself  nowhere 
teaches  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
—  at  least  in  the  way  commonly  supposed. 

The  people  of  God  had  to  wait  patiently  for  ages, 
until  they  were  sufficiently  educated  to  know  the 
truth.  Then  Jesus  Christ  "brought  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light; "  and  when  at  last  the  full  revelation 
came,  it  came  through  His  Resurrection.  It  was  not 
a  revelation  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  alone,  but 
of  soul  and  body  together.  And  it  must  be  con- 
stantly borne  in  mind  that  in  the  New  Testament 
the  one  revelation  does  not  antedate  the  other;  they 
not  only  synchronize,  but  are  inseparable;  there  is  no 
promise  of  the  life  of  the  soul  in  Heaven  apart  from 
that  of  the  body.  Indeed,  when  we  once  grasp  the 
profound  meaning  of  the  Incarnation,  as  it  is  set  forth 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  63 

in  the  New  Testament,  we  cannot  imagine  how  there 
can  be  any  separation  between  them.  The  two  are 
correlated  in  the  same  way  that  speech  is  wedded  to 
thought.  While  it  is  conceivable  that  the  soul, 
existing  apart  from  the  body,  in  a  perfectly  passive 
condition,  yet  without  losing  self-consciousness,  may 
be  in  a  receptive  state  to  divine  impressions  and 
inspirations,  and  thus  grow  in  spirituality  and 
knowledge,  it  is  unimaginable  to  us  that  it  could 
exert  itself  in  any  way  known  to  us;  for  without 
the  body  the  soul  is  not  only  powerless  to  express 
itself,  but  paralyzed  in  every  effort.  It  needs 
a  mortal  body  for  life  on  this  earth,  and  an  im- 
mortal body  for  life  in  Heaven.  For  if  the  body 
is  the  organ  of  the  soul,  then,  in  whatever  state  we 
are,  there  is,  and  must  be,  a  complete  conformity 
and  correspondence  between  the  two,  and  an  adap- 
tation of  the  former  to  the  condition  of  the  latter. 
No  question  has  been  more  closely  studied  in 
modern  times  than  the  connection  between  soul  and 
body.  Yet  physiologists  and  scientific  men  have 
been  utterly  baffled  in  all  their  attempts  to  discover 
where  the  one  ends  and  the  other  begins.  And  the 
more  knowledge  increases  and  facts  accumulate  the 
more  hopeless  the  inquiry  becomes. 

Now,  while  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining 
whether,  if  Adam  had  continued  sinless,  the  body 
would  have  been  immortalized,  without  the  Incarna- 
tion of  Christ,  we  have  very  distinct  intimations  in 
the  Bible  that  the  cause  of  a  corruptible  body  is  a 
corruptible  and  corrupted  soul.  Sin  is  a  disease, 
whose  effects  are  both  spiritual  and  physical.  We 
cannot  see  the  spiritual  effects  in  the  same  visible, 


64  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

tangible  way  in  which  we  behold  the  physical  effects ; 
and  therefore  the  physical  effects  impress  them- 
selves the  more  strongly  upon  our  imaginations. 
Our  thoughts  become  unconsciously  tinctured  in 
this  way  with  an  exaggerated  materialism  to  such 
a  degree,  that  we  associate  the  idea  of  death  and 
corruption  exclusively  with  our  physical  nature. 
Another  difficulty,  producing  similar  doubt,  is  that 
we  do  not,  and  often  cannot,  distinguish  the  dif- 
ference between  a  sinful  body  and  a  sanctified  body. 
We  imagine  that  a  soul  may  become  incorrupt,  while 
a  body  may  not.  And  this  is  the  chief  reason  why 
it  is  so  much  harder  to  believe  in  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  than  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  If 
our  minds  were  perfectly  unbiassed,  we  Christians 
should  experience  no  difficulties  in  the  one  belief 
that  do  not  equally  encompass  the  other.  It  is 
simply  because  we  have  not  become  so  familiar  with 
the  thought  of  a  sanctified  body  as  with  that  of  a 
sanctified  soul,  that  we  find  it  so  hard  to  believe 
in  a  physical   resurrection. 


VIII 

But  there  is  another  and  a  deeper  cause  in  the 
background  of  human  thought  for  this  proneness  to 
accept  the  half  truth  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
instead  of  the  whole  truth  of  the  resurrection  of 
soul  and  body.  It  is  that  men  have  wrong  ideas 
regarding  the  relation  of  the  physical  to  the  spiritual. 
A  half  truth  is  oftentimes  the  parent  of  the  most 
dangerous  of  errors.  The  error  here  is  the  old 
gnostic  supposition  that  the  kingdom  of  nature  and 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  65 

the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  are  necessarily  and  essen- 
tially separate  from  one  another;  the  cause  of  the 
error  is  that  "the"  natural  man  receiveth  not  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  neither  can  he  know 
them,  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned; "  and 
the  very  way  in  which  this  ancient  gnostic  idea 
obstinately  holds  its  own  from  age  to  age,  from 
the  time  of  Zoroaster  down  to  this  nineteenth 
century,  is,  in  itself,  one  of  the  strongest  proofs  of 
the  limitation  of  natural  thought.      From  the  natural, 

—  which  is,  of  course,  the  iinspiritnal  point  of  view, 

—  the  kingdom  of  nature  and  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
will  always  appear  separate  simply  because  the  real 
relation  of  the  two  can  never  be  seen,  or  the  right 
perspective  gained,  from  this  wrong  standpoint. 

When  St.  Paul  uttered  those  memorable  words 
which  we  have  just  quoted,  "The  natural  man 
receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,"  he 
added,  "But  he  that  is  spiritual  judgcth  all  things.'' 
The  Apostle  expressed  here  a  fundamental  truth  of 
life  brought  to  light  by  the  Christian  religion. 
For  though  the  natural  can  never  rise  to  the  spirit- 
ual, the  spiritual  can  assimilate  the  natural.  The 
secular  man  never  rises  above  the  secular  conscious- 
ness, and  the  reason  for  this  is  truly  given  by 
Hegel,  when  he  says  that  no  one  is  aware  of  a  limit 
or  defect  until  he  is  lifted  above  it.  The  natural 
belongs  to  the  natural  alone.  The  spiritual  compre- 
hends both  the  natural  and  the  spiritual.  The 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  can  sanctify  and  spiritualize 
the  kingdom  of  nature,  but  the  natural  can  never 
spiritualize  itself. 

Now  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  on  this  earth  begins 
5 


66  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

in  the  life  of  Him  Who  was  the  Word  made  flesh, 
or  in  the  Incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ.  When  the 
Son  of  God  came  down  into  this  lower  world, 
He  not  only  brought  the  life  of  Heaven  into  the 
life  of  nature,  but  He  made  the  Kingdom  of  God 
and  the  kingdom  of  nature  one.  This  truth  is  set 
forth  and  emphasized  in  the  opening  chapter  of 
St.  John's  Gospel.  Henceforth,  there  was  to  be  no 
separation  between  the  two,  —  between  the  Kingdom 
of  God  above  and  the  kingdom  of  nature  below; 
between  human  life  here  and  human  life  hereafter. 
The  Son  of  God  became  the  Son  of  Man,  with  a 
perfect  human  nature,  that  the  sons  of  men,  through 
Him,  might  become  the  immortal  sons  of  God,  with 
a  perfected  human  nature.  And,  just  as  Christ 
rose  from  the  dead  in  body  and  soul,  and  afterward 
ascended  in  body  and  soul  to  the  right  hand  of  God, 
so  we  too  shall  rise.  As  the  highest  Christian  life, 
here  on  earth,  lies  neither  in  the  physical  alone  nor 
in  the  spiritual  alone,  but  in  the  union  of  both  with 
all  their  combined  powers,  so  life  in  Christ  here- 
after must  continue  to  be  a  development  or  higher 
evolution  of  both.  If  it  be  not  so,  then,  after  the 
hour  of  death,  human  nature  will  be  shorn  of  half 
of  its  powers,  and  life  hereafter  will  become  more 
one-sided  and  less  comprehensive  than  life  here. 

This  is  the  teaching  of  the  Gospels  themselves. 
This  is  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  New 
Testament  life,  and  this  is  the  reason  why  the 
Apostles  preached  with  such  persistence  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead.  We  must  not  read  into  their 
words  a  thought  that  was  never  in  their  minds. 
They  did  not  differentiate,   as  we  do,  between  the 


THE    GOSPEL    OF    IMMORTALITY  67 

immortality  of  the  soul  and  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  and  we  shall  lose  the  completeness  of  concep- 
tion if  we  thus  misinterpret  their  inspired  message. 
It  was  the  resurrection  of  the  whole  man,  in  body, 
soul,  and  spirit,  that  they  preached ;  it  was  the  resur- 
rection of  our  human  nature  in  its  completeness  that 
they  set  forth.  And  this  whole  Christian  doctrine 
of  the  Resurrection,  as  it  was  held  by  the  Apostles 
and  the  New  Testament  Church,  was  a  necessary 
consequent  of  the  Incarnation  of  Christ,  in  which 
Heaven  and  earth,  spiritual  and  material,  are  brought 
together  in  perfect  union. 


CHAPTER    IV 
HOLY   BAPTISM   AND    THE   RISEN    LIFE 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  Bible  we  read  the  myste- 
rious statement  that,  as  the  result  of  Adam's 
sin,  God  said  to  him,  ''Dust  thou  art  and  unto  dust 
shalt  thou  return,"  and  then  sent  him  forth  from  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  placing  at  the  east  end  of  the  garden 
"  Cherubim  and  a  flaming  sword  ...  to  keep  the  way 
of  the  tree  of  life.''  ^  At  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel 
of  St.  John  we  have  that  other  mysterious  statement 
regarding  Christ,  **  As  many  as  received  Him,  to 
them  gave  He  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God, 
even  to  them  which  believe  on  His  Name:  which 
were  born,  not  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the 
will  of  man,  but  of  God."^ 

The  life  which  Adam  lost  in  Paradise  was  restored, 
when  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  to  those  that  believe 
on  His  name. 


Before  we  can  realize  fully  what  this  restoration 
means,  we  must  comprehend  the  real  nature  of  Adam's 
sin,  and  why  the  penalty  visited  upon  that  sin  was 
death.  For  the  narrative  with  which  the  Bible  begins, 
however  we  may  explain  its  origin,  possesses  for  each 
one  of  us  far  more  than  a  mere  historical,  literary,  or 

1  Gen.  iii.  19,  24.  2  st.  John  i.  12,  13. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  69 

even  religious  interest.  It  is  profound  in  its  psycho- 
logical as  well  as  its  theological  import.  It  is  the 
unveiling  of  a  universal  spiritual  truth  that  applies 
not  only  to  Adam  but  to  every  human  soul. 

We  men  do  not  have  to  go  back  to  the  Fall  of 
Adam  to  know  that  we  are  fallen  creatures.  Even 
if  we  had  never  heard  of  Adam  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  we  have  a  life  experience  of  our  own  which, 
for  us,  anticipates  the  Bible  story.  Somehow,  we 
were  born  with  a  conscience.  That  conscience  was 
strong  even  in  the  earliest  days  of  our  childhood, 
while  our  intellect  was  as  yet  dormant.  When 
we  came  into  this  world  fresh  from  the  hand  of 
God,  conscience  itself  told  us  that  God  was  our 
Father,  prompted  us  to  cry,  "  Abba,  Father,"  and 
then  bore  witness  that  we,  ourselves,  were  evil,  un- 
worthy of  our  Father.  One  of  the  first  lessons  we 
learned  about  ourselves  was  our  unfaithfulness  to 
the  ideal  of  conscience.  We  wanted  to  be  true, 
but  inwardly  felt  we  were  untrue.  The  good  that 
we  would,  we  did  not,  but  the  evil  which  we  would 
not,  that  we  did.  As  we  grew  older  and  self-knowl- 
edge increased,  we  discovered  that  the  good  was 
there,  within  us,  but  that  it  had  become  distorted, 
dwarfed,  perverted.  Every  vice  within  us  was  a  dis- 
torted virtue;  our  generous  human  sympathy  had 
degenerated  into  selfish  love  of  popularity ;  our  firm- 
ness of  character  into  obstinacy;  our  self-respect  into 
conceit;  our  tact  into  deceitfulness ;  our  humble- 
mindedness  into  cowardice ;    and  so  on. 

The  story  of  Adam  in  Paradise  is,  therefore,  a  kind 
of  mirror  in  which  we  see  ourselves  reflected.  It 
is  a  wonderful  corroboration  and  explanation  of  our 


70  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

own  inward  life  experience.  And  whatever  men's 
ideas  about  Old  Testament  history  may  be,  those  first 
chapters  of  Genesis  will  never,  to  the  end  of  time, 
lose  their  hold  upon  human  hearts  as  a  revelation, 
first,  of  God,  second,  of  self  and  the  presence  of  evil 
in  self.  Whether  it  be  a  parable  or  not,  the  fact 
remains  that  in  this  narrative  a  strange  and  remark- 
able light  is  thrown  upon  the  nature  of  human  sin. 

This  is  the  scene  which  meets  us  on  the  thres- 
hold of  human  existence.  After  the  evolution  of 
untold  ages,  a  being  appears  on  the  earth  who  is 
dissimilar  to  all  that  preceded  him.  He  is  not,  like 
the  rest,  the  possessor  of  a  mere  animal  existence. 
He  is  a  responsible  being;  that  is,  he  has  the  ability 
to  respond  to  a  voice  calling  to  him  from  another 
world.  He  is  created,  we  are  told,  "  in  the  image  of 
God ;  "  this  means,  of  course,  that  man  is  endowed 
with  a  distinct  personality  of  his  own,  and  one  of 
the  essential  attributes  of  human  personality  is  will 
power.  If  a  man  loses  his  will  power  and  his  free- 
dom of  choice,  then,  as  Dorner  well  says  somewhere, 
'*he  is  no  longer  a  htiman  being." 

And  now  go  a  step  further.  If  such  a  being, 
made  in  the  image  of  God,  is  really  free,  he  is  free 
to  commit  sin. 

There  are  only  three  ways  in  which  such  sin 
might  have  been  prevented.  First,  God  might  have 
created  a  being  with  no  free-will  of  his  own,  but  in 
that  case  he  would  have  been  an  automaton,  not  a 
human  being  made  in  God's  image.  Or,  secondly, 
God  might  have  placed  the  beings  He  created  in  a 
garden  of  Eden,  with  no  tree  of  the  knowledge  of 
Good  and  Evil  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  where,  conse- 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  7 1 

quently,  they  would  be  kept  safe  from  all  temptation 
to  sin.  Or,  thirdly,  He  might  have  placed  the  same 
Cherubim  which  guarded  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life 
before  this  other  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  Good  and 
Evil,  and  thus  forcibly  restrained  them  from  sin. 
But,  in  each  of  these  cases,  the  result  would  have 
been  the  same.  Adam  and  Eve  would  not  have  been 
free  agents.  They  would  have  had  no  opportunity 
of  exercising  their  will  power :  the  moral  life  would 
have  been  beyond  their  reach. 

As  long  as  they  were  left  to  themselves  they 
seemed  to  have  had  no  inclination  to  disobey  God. 
Their  wills  were  free  indeed,  but  they  exercised  their 
freedom  by  willing  to  do  God's  will.  But,  by  and 
by,  a  suggestion  of  evil  came  to  them.  Whether  the 
serpent  was  fact  or  metaphor  is  a  secondary  consid- 
eration. The  point  is  that  the  suggestion  came  from 
an  outer  source.  And  perhaps  this  is  the  reason 
why  that  dark  problem  of  evil  so  completely  baffles 
us :  it  originates  outside  of  our  cosmogony.  Evil 
begins  and  evil  ends  in  the  ''outer  darkness."  ''And 
the  serpent  said,  ...  ye  shall  not  surely  die  [if  ye 
eat  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil],  for 
God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  then 
your  eyes  shall  be  open,  and  ye  shall  be  as  God, 
knowing  Good  and  Evil."  ^ 

Observe  the  concluding  words.  "Ye  shall  be  as 
God,"  as  God  Himself,  "knowing  Good  and  Evil." 
There,  covered  up  in  those  words  lies  the  root  sin  of 
all  the  world.     For  what  is  sin? 

Sin  is  not  a  sentiment,  or  a  mere  theological  term. 
It  is  a  moral  disease,  a  moral  defect,  which,  by  and 

1  Gen.  iii.  4,  5. 


72  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

by,  when  yielded  to,  produces  also  a  physical  defect. 
The  most  profound  definition  of  sin  ever  set  forth 
was  given  by  St.  John  in  the  third  chapter  of  his 
First  Epistle,  and  he  gives  it  in  three  words :  "  Sin 
is  lazvlessnessy  ^  When  a  man  holds  aloof  from 
God,  determines  that  he  shall  be  a  God  to  himself, 
in  choosing  what  he  shall  do  or  not  do,  and  sub- 
stitutes his  own  knowledge  for  God's  knowledge  of 
Good  and  Evil,  that  is  the  root  sin.  He  is  setting 
self-will  above  God's  will  in  a  spirit  of  lawlessness. 
In  this  feeling  of  independence  of  God,  we  have  the 
first  fertilizing  germ  of  sin,  the  first  microbe,  so  to 
speak,  of  an  awful  disease,  which  soon  spreads  itself 
through  the  system. 

On  every  side  we  behold  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men  who  rejoice  to  consider  themselves  "  indepen- 
dent" men.  Because  they  take  upon  themselves  no 
Christian  vows,  they  think  that  they  are  as  free  as  air. 
But  are  they  free  as  air?  The  air  obeys  the  laws  of 
nature.  The  scientific  man  obeys  the  laws  of  God 
in  nature.  Science  never  became  free  until  the  days 
of  Lord  Bacon,  when  it  first  learned  to  obey.  And, 
to-day,  the  greatest  sin  which  science  itself  knows  is 
a  spirit  of  lawlessness  or  reckless  disobedience  to  the 
laws  of  nature.  Yet  physical  science  deals  with  but 
one  tract  or  region  of  the  knowledge  of  Good  and 
Evil.  God  is  the  Maker  of  the  rock,  the  tree,  the 
animal,  but  he  is  our  Father.  We  men  are  made  in 
His  Image.  The  royal  blood  of  Heaven  itself  is  in 
our  veins;  and  to  be  worthy  of  our  birthright  and 
lineage  we  must  do  the  will  of  God  on  earth  as  it  is 
done  in  Heaven.    We  have  a  personal  relationsJiip  with 

1  T  lohn  iii.  4,  R.  V. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  73 

our  Father,  and  therefore  above  the  physical  laws  of 
nature  stand  the  higher  spiritual  laws  of  personal  re- 
lationship and  intercourse.  If  a  spirit  of  lawlessness 
in  social  life  cuts  us  off  from  personal  intercourse, 
personal  intimacy,  personal  union  with  the  noblest  and 
most  refined  of  men,  much  more  does  that  same  spirit 
of  lawlessness  or  sin  isolate  us  from  God  our  Father 
and  the  society  of  Heaven.  Sin  is  the  separator.  And 
this  is  the  heavy  penalty  that  one  pays  for  taking  an 
"independent"  stand  and  holding  aloof  from  God. 
Down  to  the  depths  of  his  soul  he  knows  and  feels 
that  he  is  separate  from  God,  isolated  from  God. 
Lawlessness  or  sin  erects  a  barrier  between  him  and 
God,  and  before  he  can  be  at  one  with  God  or  free 
from  the  consciousness  of  separation,  that  spirit  of 
lawlessness  must  be  judged  at  the  bar  of  conscience 
and  crucified.  See  how  that  inward  feeling  of  sepa- 
ration, of  guilt,  of  being  tincovered^  unprotected  by 
a  Father's  love,  at  once  followed  upon  Adam's  sin. 
When  he  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord  God  calling 
"  Where  art  thou?"  he  went  and  hid  himself  because 
he  was  naked.  "  Who  told  thee  thou  wast  uncovered, 
—  naked,"  v/as  God's  searching  question.  This  lonely, 
awful  feeling  of  separation  was  the  first  result  of 
lawlessness. 

The  second  result  was  doubt.  If  Adam  and  Eve, 
the  instant  the  suggestion  was  made,  had  fallen  back 
upon  their  confidence  in  God ;  if  they  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  thought  that  the  God  who  created  them 
in  His  own  image  could  not  be  false  or  untrue  to 
them,  or  the  kind  of  being  that  the  serpent  pictured 
Him,  they  would  have  been  safe.  But  they  harbored 
the  doubt,  they  allowed  themselves   to  look  at  God 


74  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

out  of  Satan's  eyes.  Then  they  lost  their  hold  on 
God  and  were  helplessly  swept  away  by  tempta- 
tion. The  teaching  of  the  narrative  here  tallies  so 
closely  with  our  own  inward  experience  of  life  that 
the  resemblance  is  startling.  It  shows  us  that  un- 
belief always  manifests  the  same  characteristics  and 
approaches  human  hearts  in  the  same  way. 

It  first  manifested  itself  in  doubt  of  God's  Law. 
**  Hath  God  said  ye  shall  die,  if  ye  eat?  Ye  shall  not 
surely  die,"  the  tempter  said.  "  God  has  no  power 
over  nature.  The  laws  governing  physical  life  are 
fixed ;  the  laws  of  spiritual  life,  set  forth  in  the  Word 
of  God,  are  words  only;  they  cannot  be  proved." 
Even  when  Christ  says,  **  Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  My  words  shall  not  pass  away,"  this 
solemn  statement  means  nothing  to  those  who  doubt. 
And  who  of  us  is  there  who  does  not  know  what  this 
kind  of  doubt  means? 

But  it  manifests  itself  even  more  strongly  in  the 
doubt  of  God's  Love.  "  God  dotJi  know  that  in  the 
day  ye  eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  be  opened," 
the  tempter  insinuated.  God,  then,  had  deceived 
them ;  He  was  holding  back  a  part  of  His  truth  from 
the  minds  of  His  children.  After  having  made  them. 
He  was  deliberately  keeping  them  in  ignorance  of 
that  which  they  ought  to  know  and  had  a  right  to 
know.  That  was  what  the  insinuation  really  meant. 
The  world  was  bigger  than  He  had  represented  it  to 
them,  and  the  time  had  come  for  them  to  rebel 
against  such  unjust  restraints.^ 

1  This  threefold  temptation  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  Paradise  is  so 
comprehensive  that  it  covers  the  whole  field  of  subsequent  human 
temptation.      This   was   forcibly   expressed   by   St.   John   when   he 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  75 

Is  not  this  the  very  temptation  which  comes  to 
us  all  in  the  days  of  our  youth,  when  we  stand  on  the 
threshold  of  manhood  ?  We  distrust  God's  love,  God's 
wisdom ;  the  religious  life  seems  tame  and  insipid 
compared  with  worldly  life  :  we  think  we  know  better 
than  God  what  is  best  for  us.  Having  no  being  higher 
than  ourselves  to  look  to,  self-love  soon  crowds  out 
the  consciousness  of  God's  love  from  our  hearts,  and 
God  Himself  becomes  an  unreality  in  our  self-centred 
life.  Then,  as  the  stream  cannot  rise  higher  than 
its  fountainhead,  and  as  self  sees  only  this  present 
world,  we  lavish  on  a  passing  world  —  which  is  but  a 
carnal  copy  of  heavenly  things —  the  wealth  of  a  heart 
that  is  bigger  than  the  world,  only  to  find  in  the  end 
that  this  world  can  never  satisfy  a  soul  that  was 
made  for  Heaven. 

The  third  result  of  sin,  or  the  spirit  of  lawlessness, 
is  ignorance. 

"  Disobey  God,"  the  tempter  said,  "  and  your  eyes 
will  be  opened  to  the  knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil. 

The  only  way  to  know  the  difference  between  good 
and  evil,  according  to  the  Gospel  of  Satan,  is  to  taste 
the  forbidden  fruit  of  sin ;  in  other  words,  to  gain 
knowledge  by  yielding  to  temptation. 

There  was  a  half  truth  here.  There  is  a  kind  of 
knowledge  of  the  world  which  comes  from  yielding 
to  sin,  and  therefore  the  tempter  skilfuly  insinuated, 

wrote:  "If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in 
him.  For  n//  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of 
the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,  is  not  of  the  Father,  but  is  of  the  world. 
And  the  world  i)asseth  away  and  the  lust  thereof,  but  he  that  doeth 
the  will  of  God  abideth  forever"  (i  John  ii.  15-17).  In  the  same  way 
it  covers  the  ordinary  threefold  division  of  the  World,  the  Flesh,  and 
the  Devil,  or,  the  Evil  of  Others,  the  Evil  of  Self,  and  the  Evil  One. 


76  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

*'  God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  your 
eyes  shall  be  opened."  But  a  half  truth  is  the  worst 
of  all  lies.  And  when  Satan  went  on  to  add  :  "  In  the 
day  ye  eat  thereof  ye  shall  be  as  God,  knowing 
good  and  evil,"  he  was  uttering  the  lie  which  has 
led  the  whole  human  race  astray,  and  to  which 
Christ  Himself  plainly  referred  when  he  said  that 
Satan  was  a  "  liar  from  the  beginning."  It  is  the 
lie  which  is  ever  confusing  those  who  think  that  to 
know  good  and  evil  one  must  hist  yield  io  evil.  The 
truth  is  the  exact  reverse.  To  know  sin  it  is  neces- 
sary to  be  tempted,  but  not  necessary  to  yield. 

The  positive  reveals  the  negative  by  contrast; 
good  reveals  evil,  as  light  reveals  darkness. 

But  the  negative  can  never  reveal  the  positive. 
Knowledge  of  evil  can  never  create  a  corresponding 
knowledge  of  good.  On  the  contrary,  as  all  experi- 
ence of  life  shows,  it  only  distorts  and  brings  false  ideas 
of  goodness.  We  do  not  thus  learn  to  know  good- 
ness as  God  knows  it,  but  as  Satan  knows  it — from 
the  outside.  You  must  believe  in  a  virtue,  experience 
a  virtue,  to  realize  its  power. 

All  knowledge  is  power,  goodness  is  moral  power, 
faith  in  goodness  is  spiritual  power,  and  the  will  of 
God  is  life  power.  All  through  the  Bible,  God's 
will  and  God's  law  are  set  forth  as  the  expression 
of  God's  life. 

We  must  will  to  do  God's  will  if  we  would  know 
moral  and  spiritual  truth ;  ^  we  must  will  to  do  God's 
will  if  we  would  live.  God  and  morality  are  as  in- 
separably linked  together,  in  the  Bible,  as  God  and 
Love.      The   Prophet's   name  for   Christ   was    ''The 

1  St.  John  vii.  17. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  77 

Lord  our  Righteousness."  The  very  name  "  God  " 
itself  means  the  Good  One. 

The  man  therefore  who  has  false  ideas  of  good- 
ness—  virtue  —  must  inevitably  have  false  ideas  of 
God. 

And  this  ignorance  is  the  last  and  most  awful 
penalty  visited  upon  Adam's  sin.  "  This  is  life 
eternal,"  said  our  Lord,  "  to  know  Thee,  the  only 
True  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent." 

If  knowledge  of  the  will  of  God  is  knowledge 
of  God  Himself;  if  knowledge  of  God  Himself  is 
eternal  life,  then  ignorance  of  God  can  only  mean 
death. 

For  the  setting  up  of  self-will  against  God's  will 
leads  to  the  gradual  destruction  of  life.  And  this  is 
what  St.  John  meant  when  he  wrote  :  **  If  any  man 
love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him. 
For  all  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh, 
and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,  is  not 
of  the  Father,  but  is  of  the  world.  And  the  world 
passetJi  azvay,  and  the  lust  thereof:   but  he  that  doeth 


orcvcr 


. "  1 


the  will  of  God  abidetJi  fc 

And  death  is  the  most  awful  penalty  visited  upon  sin 
or  lav/lessness.  How  appalling  in  its  profound  depth 
of  meaning  is  the  conclusion  of  the  description  of 
the  fall  of  Adam  !  "  The  Lord  God  said.  Behold,  the 
man  is  become  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  evil ; 
and  now,  lest  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  take  also 
of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  forever :  therefore, 
the  Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden 
of  Eden.  So  He  drove  out  the  man ;  and  He  placed 
at   the  east  of  the   Garden  of  Eden,  the  Cherubim 

^   I  John  ii.  15-17. 


78  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

and    the    flame    of  a    sword    which    turned    every 
way  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  hfe."  ^ 

This  sentence  of  death  and  exclusion  from  the 
tree  of  Hfe  w^as  no  arbitrary  decree  of  God.  It  was 
the  result  of  a  cause.  The  setting  up  of  self  will 
against  God's  will  necessarily  entails  death.  The 
feeling  of  separation  or  isolation  that  every  sinner 
experiences,  whether  he  will  or  not,  is  an  unerring 
voice,  proclaiming,  as  it  were,  by  instinct,  his  real 
condition  in  this  life ;  and  it  is  a  premonition  of  his 
future  condition  after  this  life  is  over.  All  the  reli- 
gions of  this  world  have  striven  to  overcome  this 
consciousness  of  separation,  and  consequently  of 
condemnation,  some  in  one  way,  some  in  another, 
but  it  persistently  remains,  in  all  real  seekers  after 
God,  and  until  Christ  came  it  was  ineradicable. 

II 

Let  us  now  turn  to  Christ  Himself. 

Just  before  the  curtain  fell  upon  that  scene  with 
which  the  Bible  opens,  it  will  be  remembered  that  the 
mysterious  promise  was  given  that  the  seed  of  the 
woman  should  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent;  and  it 
was  given  in  such  a  way  as  to  imply  most  distinctly  a 
terrible  conflict,  in  which  the  seed  of  the  woman, 
through  suffering,  should  gain  the  victory  over  evil. 
No  Jew  could  understand  the  meaning  of  that  promise, 
as  it  is  now  unfolded  to  us  Christians,  when  we  gaze 
upon  Christ,  the  Virgin  Born,  who  suffered  for  our 
transgressions  and  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities. 
This  first  prophecy  of  the  Bible  was   fulfilled  when 

1  Gen.  iii.  22-24,  R-  V. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  79 

Christ,  Who  did  God's  will  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in 
Heaven,  laid  down  His  holy,  sinless  life  as  a  ransom 
for  sinners,  and  thus  opened  once  more  the  gate  of 
Paradise  and  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life. 

Men  may  theorize  about  this  redemption  as  they 
will,  and  have  their  different  explanations  of  the 
Atonement,  but  there  stands  the  fact;  the  only 
practical  way  in  which  any  one  has  ever  been  able 
to  rid  himself  of  the  consciousness  of  separation 
from  God  is  by  first  of  all  coming  to  the  cross 
of  Christ  as  a  repentant  siujier.  The  whole  New 
Testament  lays  the  greatest  emphasis  upon  the  ne- 
cessity of  repentance.  The  first  message,  not  only 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  but  of  Christ  Himself,  was, 
"  Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand." 
And  the  reason  for  this  becomes  evident  when  we 
remember  that  repentance  means  the  absolute  re- 
nunciation of  that  spirit  of  self-will  —  or  independ- 
ence, or  lawlessness  —  of  which  we  have  spoken  so 
often  in  this  chapter.  But  repentance  is  only  the 
first  step.  After  repentance,  must  come  faith  that 
Jesus  Christ  can  save  us  from  our  sins.  We  may 
keep  on  repenting  to  our  dying  day,  without  being 
able  to  get  rid  of  the  burden  of  sin  and  separa- 
tion from  God,  for  this  only  comes  through  faith  in 
Christ.  Our  Lord  himself  dwelt  with  a  living  earnest- 
ness on  this  fact  in  His  teachings  to  the  Jews.  "  If  ye 
believe  not  that  I  am  He,"  He  said  to  them,  "  ye 
shall  die  in  your  sins  ;  "  and  the  way  in  which  He  kept 
on  reiterating  that  sentence,  "ye  shall  die  in  your 
sins,"  as  though  He  would  brand  it  upon  their 
memories,  is  most  significant.^     Then,  He  told  them 

1     St.  John  viii.  21,  24. 


8o  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

that  they  could  never  by  any  possibihty  be  freed 
from  the  slavery  of  sin,  and  the  inward  conscious- 
ness of  its  bondage,  except  through  Him.  *'  Whoso- 
ever committeth  sin  is  the  servant  (literally  slave)  of 
sin.  .  .  If  the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free 
indeed."^  And  the  reason  why  such  faith  in  Christ 
is  absolutely  essential  to  entrahce  into  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  is  just  as  evident  as  the  reason  for  repen- 
tance. The  spirit  of  lawlessness  must  be  crucified  be- 
fore we  can  become  at  one  with  God.  The  last  refuge 
that  self-will  takes  is  in  the  plausible  moral  attitude, 
that  every  man  must  bear  the  full  burden  and 
responsibility  of  his  own  sins,  and  cannot  therefore 
throw  them  upon  any  other,  even  if  that  other  be 
Jesus,  the  Son  of  God.  When  analyzed,  it  will  be 
found  that  this  is  still  the  old  spirit  of  independence 
of  God  in  disguise,  and  the  very  obstinacy  in  which 
it  takes  and  clings  to  this  last  stand  is  a  sign  of  the 
terrible  strength  of  sin.  As  long  as  that  spirit  re- 
mains, the  life  of  God  is  impossible.  It  is  only 
where  self  ends  that  God  begins.  One  must  die  to 
live.  The  old  man  must  die  before  the  new  man 
can  be  raised  up  in  us,  the  old  sinful  nature  must  be 
crucified  with  Christ;  independence  of  God  must 
give  place  to  complete  dependence  on  God.  There 
must  be  an  absolute  self-surrender  of  one's  life  into 
the  hands  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  this  is  the  profound 
truth  which  underlies  faith  and  the  acceptance  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  a  Saviour. 

The  beginning  of  all  religious  life  lies  in  this  in- 
ward consciousness  of  implicit  dependence  on  God. 
And  therefore  the  first  beatitude  of  the  Gospels  was, 

1  St.  John  viii.  31-36. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  Si 

**  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven."  If  sin  is  the  separator,  there  is 
only  one  way  in  which  that  state  of  separation  can 
cease  to  exist;  only  one  way  in  which  the  conscious- 
ness of  separation  can  be  blotted  out;  only  one  way 
in  which  we  can  become  at  one  with  God,  with  the 
realization  that  we  are  completely  forgiven ;  and  that 
is  through  the  cross  of  Christ.  There  is  one  practi- 
cal way  and  one  only  in  which  the  Christian  believer 
can  possibh'  succeed.  He  must  work,  not  to  the  cross, 
hntfroni  the  cross,  with  the  unceasing  prayer  in  his 
heart :  — 

"  Look,  Father,  look  on  His  Anointed  Face, 
And  only  look  on  us,  as  found  in  Him; 
Look  not  on  our  misusings  of  Thy  Grace, 
Our  prayer  so  languid  and  our  faith  so  dim ; 
For  lo  !  between  our  sins  and  their  reward 
We  set  the  Passion  of  Thy  Son,  our  Lord." 

HI 

But  we  must  not  stop  with  the  Crucifixion,  as  so 
many  are  prone  to  do  in  these  days.  From  a  variety 
of  causes  familiar  to  every  student  of  church  history, 
and  some  of  which  will  be  pointed  out  hereafter,  the 
vision  of  the  cross  has  so  completely  enthralled  and 
monopolized  both  Roman  and  Protestant  thought  as 
to  obscure  all  that  came  after ;  ^  and  the  result  is  that 

1  "This  is  no  unfair  or  exaggerated  representation  of  Christian 
sentiment  in  every  age  of  the  Church's  history.  The  minds  of  men 
have  been  directed  to  the  cross,  and  to  the  cross  alone." —  The  Ascen- 
sion of  our  Lord,  by  Dr.  William  Milligan,  p.  129. 

"  The  Roman  Church  has  practically  expelled  the  Eesurrection  by 
making  the  Mass  the  centre  of  her  worship.  The  Protestants  have 
done  the  same  by  directing  almost  exclusive  attention  to  the  death  of 
Christ." —  The  Resiir7-ection  of  our  Lord,  by  Dr.  William  IMilligan. 

6 


82  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

among  Protestants  the  cross  has  been  made  the  centre 
of  a  theological  system,  in  which,  while  some  •Gos- 
pel truths  have  been  disproportionately  exaggerated, 
others  equally  important  have  been  correspondingly 
undervalued,  until  at  last  only  those  principles  and 
doctrines  are  accepted  which  can  be  logically  subor- 
dinated to  the  supreme  doctrine  of  justification  by 
ftiith  in  Christ  crucified  ;  while  those  which  cannot 
be  thus  subordinated,  become  either  ignored  or  prac- 
tically denied.  An  anti-climax  has  been  thus  created, 
in  which  the  Resurrection  appears  to  be  little  more 
than  a  corroborative  seal  of  Christ's  Divinity;  while 
the  Ascension  only  marks  the  departure  of  Christ  to 
His  former  home  in  Heaven  after  His  work  on  earth  is 
ended.  All  this  stands  out  in  such  marked  contrast  to 
the  faith  of  New  Testament  Christians  that  we  pause  a 
moment  to  dwell  upon  those  consequences  which  have 
followed  this  modern  conception  of  Christian  truth. 

(i)  This  doctrine  teaches,  that  the  cross  of  Christ 
becomes  to  all  behevers,  both  a  death  unto  sin  and 
a  new  birth  unto  righteousness.  Both  results,  it  is 
believed,  follow  the  one  act  of  accepting  the  crucified 
Christ  as  our  Saviour ;  and  hence  arises  inextricable 
confusion  of  religious  thought.  For  the  cross  is  the 
symbol  and  sign  of  deatJi,  not  of  life.  A  believer 
can  comprehend  at  once  how  we  are  crucified  with 
Christ  in  His  death;  but  it  is  hard  to  beheve  that 
newness  of  life  comes  from  the  dead  Christ.  And 
if  this  difficulty  is  felt  regarding  the  sanctification 
of  the  soul,  it  becomes  almost  insuperable  when  we 
consider  the  santification  of  the  body. 

(2)  If  the  Atonement  begins  and  ends  at  the  cross, 
and  if  a  supreme  act  of  faith  in  that  Atonement  is 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  S;^ 

all  that  is  required  of  the  believer  to  be  forever  *'  at 
one "  with  God,  then  there  necessarily  follows  a 
divorce  between  faith  and  works.  There  is  oneness 
with  Christ  in  His  death  through  faith  in  His  death; 
but  not  necessarily  oneness  with  Christ  in  works,  if 
Christ  ceased  working  for  our  redemption  when  He 
died  upon  the  cross.  If,  then  and  there.  He  com- 
pleted the  work  of  our  salvation,  in  every  particular, 
leaving  nothing  more  to  be  done  either  by  Him  or 
by  ourselves,  then  our  works  are  works  of  self  wrought 
apart  from  Christ,  and  if  we  invest  them  even  with 
the  slightest  importance  as  religious  acts,  we  are  just 
so  far  subtracting  from  the  fulness  and  complete- 
ness of  Christ's  perfect  work  of  redemption  that  was 
finished  on  the  cross.  Yet  no  man  can  deny  alto- 
gether the  value  of  Christian  service  and  rest  on 
Faith  alone,  for  we  thereby  paralyze  the  sense  of 
Christian  responsibility,  undervalue  the  necessity  of 
holiness,  and  ignore  some  of  the  plainest  injunctions 
of  the  New  Testament  regarding  the  necessity  of 
continuous  effort  and  growth  in  grace. 

This,  perhaps,  has  been  of  all  others  the  greatest 
source  of  perplexity  to  many  thinking  minds,  for  it 
seems  to  separate  religious  faith  from  religious  effort ; 
and  in  recent  years  it  has  undoubtedly  been  the  chief 
cause  why  so  many  have  first  doubted  the  doctrine  of 
the  Atonement  and  then  rejected  it  altogether. 

(3)  By  connecting  the  whole  religious  life  of  the 
soul  with  Christ's  death  upon  the  cross.  Protestan- 
tism, with  all  its  robust  faith  and  its  splendid  virtues, 
has  always  presented  an  austere,  and  consequently 
a  one-sided,  aspect  of  Christianity.  The  cross  is  the 
symbol  of  death,  and  if  the  victory  that  Christ  won 


84  NEW   TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

for  US  over  the  power  of  sin  and  darkness  was  won  by 
His  death  alone,  then  the  Christian  rehgion,  of  neces- 
sity, becomes  mournful  and  sad  in  tone. 

(4)  Those  who  hold  that  the  work  of  Redemption 
was  completed  at  the  cross,  fail  to  grasp  and  realize 
the  meaning  of  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension;  and 
with  this  follows,  of  course,  a  corresponding  failure 
to  comprehend  the  meaning  of  those  facts  of  Christi- 
anity which  are  the  consequence  of  the  Resurrection 
and  Ascension  :  the  Creation  of  the  Church  as  Christ's 
Body  on  earth,  the  Mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
unite  Christ's  visible  Body  on  earth  with  its  Glori- 
fied Head  in  Heaven,  and  the  efficacy  of  the  Sacra- 
ments instituted  by  Christ  as  means  of  grace  for 
the  development  of  the  life  of  that  Church.  Hence, 
Protestant  denominations,  as  a  rule,  are  antagonistic 
to  the  doctrines  of  a  visible  Church  and  of  sacra- 
mental grace  in  Baptism  and  the  Holy  Communion. 
Whatever  other  explanations  may  be  given  for  this 
characteristic  attitude,  the  real  underlying  cause  is 
that  there  is  no  place  for  these  doctrines  logically 
in  their  theological  system. 

(5)  Very  vague  and  confused  ideas  have  become 
prevalent  regarding  not  only  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  but  its  vital  connection  with  our  own  future  life, 
and  some  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to  hold  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  is  a  mere 
matter  of  speculation,  which  is  an  unimportant  and 
unnecessary  addition  to  the  really  vital  truth  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  Whereas,  in  the  Bible 
itself,  as  we  have  shown  in  a  previous  chapter,  there 
is  no  revelation  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  apart 
from  that  of  the  body. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  85 

(6)  Protestant  Theology  has  thus  unconsciously 
revived  the  old  dualism  of  the  ages,  which,  from 
time  immemorial,  has  divorced  the  spiritual  from  the 
natural,  teaching  that  the  highest  life  is  in  the  spiritual 
alone;  whereas  the  Incarnation  of  Christ  reveals  that 
the  highest  life  is  in  the  union  of  the  spiritual  and 
natural. 

IV 

In  vivid  contrast  to  this  modern  phase  of  Christian 
thought  stands  the  equally  characteristic  attitude  of 
the  New  Testament  Church,  as  it  is  so  clearly  por- 
trayed in  the  Book  of  Acts  and  the  Apostolic  Epistles. 
Christ's  death  upon  the  cross  was  to  the  first  Chris- 
tians only  the  first  link  in  that  marvellous  chain  of 
events  that  culminated  in  His  As'cension,  or  rather, 
that  will  not  be  completed  until  He  comes  again  in 
the  glory  of  His  Incarnation  to  judge  the  quick  and 
the  dead.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  all  the  Gospels 
which  were  written  by  them  terminate  abruptly,  and 
convey  the  idea  of  incompleteness ;  as  though,  on 
account  of  some  unexpected  interruption,  they  were 
suddenly  broken  off  before  the  writers  had  really 
reached  the  end.  Yet  we  know  they  were  all  written 
after  Pentecost.  This  abruptness,  which  characterizes 
all  four  alike,  is  a  striking  proof  how  overwhelming 
was  the  consciousness  of  the  Resurrection  and  of  the 
continuity  of  Christ's  life  after  the  Crucifixion,  in  the 
minds  of  the  writers.  They  reached  the  end  of  the 
earthly  narrative  but  not  of  the  life  itself.  They 
could  describe  all  that  preceded  the  Crucifixion,  but 
no  earthly  language  could  rise  to  the  height  of  por- 
traying adequately  \^\idX  followed  the    Crucifixion; 


86  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

yet,  In  their  religious  consciousness  these  tremendous 
after  developments  In  the  Hfe  of  Christ  were  the  key 
which  unlocked  the  meaning  of  all  that  had  gone 
before ;  the  light  from  Heaven  Interpreting  the  mean- 
ing of  the  previous  Gospel  history ;  the  glorious  and 
triumphant  consummation  of  that  strange  story  of  a 
suffering  Christ  which  the  Gospels  record. 

All  this  is  clearly,  unmistakably  shown,  first,  In  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  which  give  us  the  external, 
and,  secondly.  In  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament, 
which  record  the  internal  history  of  the  early  Church. 
The  cross  of  Christ  was  to  the  first  Christians  but  the 
beginning  of  that  Atonement  In  which  believers  were 
made  at  one  with  God.  Nowhere  in  the  Apostolic 
Epistles  do  we  find  that  Isolated  prominence,  given 
to  the  Crucifixion  apart  from  the  Resurrection  which 
appears  In  post-reformation  times.  And  It  has  doubt- 
less been  a  source  of  silent  surprise  to  an  untold 
number  of  Christian  men,  when  they  discovered  for 
the  first  time  how  dift'erent  the  language  of  the  New 
Testament  itself  Is  from  the  doctrine  that  was  preached 
to  them  from  earliest  childhood.  When  we  go  back 
to  the  words  and  lives  of  the  apostles  —  back  from  the 
atmosphere  of  post-reformation  thought  to  the  clearer 
and  purer  atmosphere  of  first  century  thought,  all 
those  difficulties  about  the  Atonement  to  which  we 
have  referred,  disappear  as  mists  before  the  rising 
sun ;  for  in  the  New  Testament  the  power  to  live  a 
Christian  life  Is  connected,  not  with  the  Crucifixion, 
but  always  with  the  Resurrection  of  Christ.  Our 
Lord  had  not  only  plainly  declared  *'  I  am  the  Resur- 
rection and  the  Life :  he  that  believeth  in  Me,  though 
he   were   dead,   yet   shall   he   live:    and   whosoever 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  87 

liveth  and  believeth  in  Me  shall  never  die  ;  "  ^  but  He 
had  reiterated  that  truth  again  and  again.  Filled 
with  the  triumphant  conviction  that  as  He  rose  so 
they  too  were  risen,  and  that  as  the  old  man  in  them 
was  dead  and  crucified  with  Christ  on  the  cross,  so 
the  "  new  man  "  in  them  was  raised  up  with  Christ 
from  the  death  of  sin,  Christians  of  New  Testament 
times  actually  felt  the  power  of  Christ's  Resurrection 
as  a  daily  influence  in  their  lives. 

In  their  own  personal  experience  they  realized 
what  this  newness  of  life  and  freshness  of  being  meant, 
and  they  manifested  in  consequence  a  joyousness, 
a  consciousness  of  victory  over  sin,  and  a  power  to 
overcome  sin,  which  stands  out  in  conspicuous  con- 
trast to  that  sad  and  austere  type  of  religion  which 
characterizes  modern  Protestantism.  There  is  no 
book  in  the  whole  world,  no  history  or  biography 
or  poem,  so  joyous  in  tone,  so  triumphant  in  the  con- 
viction that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them 
that  love  God,  as  the  New  Testament  itself.  A  note- 
worthy illustration  of  this  consciousness  of  power  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  they  regarded  the  whole  world, 
which  to  them  meant  the  Roman  Empire,  as  already 
conquered  by  Christ,  —  and  this,  at  the  very  time 
when  they  were  being  martyred  for  Christ's  sake. 

Never  will  that  old-time  joyousness  and  triumph- 
ant consciousness  of  victory  return,  until  the  Resur- 
rection of  Christ  means  to  us  what  it  meant  to  St. 
John  and  St.  Paul. 

Again,  as  the  Apostles  never  separated  soul  and 
body  except  for  the  sake  of  differentiation,  and 
as  they  knew  of  no  Christian  doctrine  of  the  immor- 

1  St.  John  xi.  25,  26. 


8S  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

tality  of  the  soul  apart  from  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,  they  taught  that  the  power  of  that  re- 
surrection, passing  into  them,  quickened  them  in 
dodf  as  well  as  in  soul.  The  Church  cannot  lose 
sight  of  that  truth  without  losing  also  some  part  of 
that  high  ideal  of  the  Christian  life  which  inspired 
the  first  Christians.  If  she  does,  it  will  not  be  long, 
as  the  generations  pass  by,  before  the  direct  and  in- 
direct influences  of  that  loss  begin  to  manifest  them- 
selves, and  as  they  /lave  most  plainly  manifested 
themselves  in  recent  times.  When  we  hold  firmly  to 
the  belief  that  the  bodies  as  well  as  the  souls  of 
Christians  are  mysteriously  connected  with  that  risen 
life  which  Christ  imparts  to  His  followers  as  He 
Himself  rises  in  body  and  soul  from  the  grave,  a 
new,  more  definite,  and  more  blessed  signification  is 
given  to  all  Christ's  promises  regarding  the  power  of 
His  Resurrection.  Not  only  is  this  in  accordance 
with  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  not  only 
does  it  save  us  from  that  bias  toward  dualism  which 
secretly  and  unconsciously  dominates  the  religious 
thought  of  so  many  Protestants  at  the  present  day, 
but  it  brings  home,  both  to  our  hearts  and  consciences, 
a  vivid  realization  of  what  our  union  with  the  risen 
Christ  actually  means.  He  unites,  not  merely  a  por- 
tion of  our  human  nature,  but  our  whole  manhood 
unto  Himself.  Henceforth,  the  sanctification  of  the 
body  becomes  a  ruling  thought  in  our  Christian  lives. 
It  evokes  a  new  and  deeper  sense  of  responsibility 
within  us,  and  it  infuses  a  new  strength  into  our  being 
to  resist  the  sins  of  the  flesh ;  for  the  body  as  well 
as  the  soul  is  to  be  prepared  and  kept  sacred  for 
immortal  life   in  Heaven. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  89 

And  with  this  thought,  or  rather  this  conviction, 
in  mind  we  comprehend,  now  as  never  before,  the 
profound  truth  to  which  St.  Paul  referred  when  he 
wrote:  **  If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those 
things  which  are  above,  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the 
right  hand  of  God.  .  .  .  For  ye  are  dead,  and  your  hfe 
is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  When  Christ,  Who  is  our 
hfe,  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  appear  with  Him 
in  glory.  Mortify ^  therefore,  your  members  which  are 
upon  the  earth;  fornication,  uncleanness,  inordinate 
affection,  evil  concupiscence,  and  covetousness,  which 
is  *  idolatry.^ 

V 

And  this  leads  up  to  the  great  Commission  which 
Christ  gave  to  His  Apostles  after  He  rose  from  the 
dead.  During  those  forty  days  when  He  remained 
on  earth  before  His  Ascension,  He  met  the  Apostles 
in  a  mountain  of  Galilee,  which  He  had  previously 
appointed,  and  said:  "All  power  is  given  unto  Me 
in  Heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  make 
disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatso- 
ever I  have  commanded  you :  and  lo,  I  am  with  you 
ahvay,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  ^ 

The  following  particulars  will  be  observed  in  this 
great  Commission:  (i)  Christ  here  speaks  as  the 
King  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  Because  He,  Who 
was  in  the  form  of  God,  had  emptied  Himself  and 
taken  the  form  of  a  servant,  doing  God's  will  as  Man, 
on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  Heaven ;  and  had  become 
1  Col.  iii.  1-5.  2  St.  Matt,  xxviii.  18-20 


90  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross; 
therefore,  when  He  rose,  in  body  and  soul,  from  the 
dead,  God  highly  exalted  Him,  and  gave  Him  a  Name 
which  is  above  every  name,  that  at  the  human  name 
of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  Heaven 
and  things  on  earth.^  Because,  in  this  way.  His  man- 
hood had  been  taken  up  to  God,  Jesus  now  pro- 
claims as  King  that  all  power  is  given  to  Him  in 
Heaven  and  on  earth.  (2)  Immediately  following 
this  announcement,  comes  His  kingly  charge  to  His 
Apostles  to  go  throughout  the  earth  and  bring  men 
into  His  Kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth.  **  Go  ye, 
therefore,  into  all  the  world,  and  make  disciples  of 
all  nations."  (3)  The  Apostles  are  thus  to  make 
men  of  all  nations  members  of  His  Kingdom,  by  bap- 
tizing them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

This  baptism  is,  as  Christ  had  previously  explained, 
a  new  birth,  by  water  and  the  Spirit,  into  Christ's  King- 
dom of  Heaven  on  earth .^  It  is  a  baptism  by  water, 
"an  earthly  thing," ^  because  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
is  of  Heaven  and  earth,  united  in  His  Incarnation; 
and  because  the  body  which  is  ''  an  earthly  thing  "  is 
through  Christ  to  be  immortalized.  It  is  also  baptism 
by  the  Spirit,  a  Power  sent  down  from  above,  by 
Christ,  after  He  reached  His  throne  in  Heaven,  to 
regenerate  the  Christian  world  and  consecrate  our 
human  nature,  in  its  entirety,  to  Him. 

Bearing  all  these  facts  in  mind,  we  find  that  there 
is  the  most  intimate  connection  between  this  out- 
ward ordinance  and  all  that  has  gone  before.  Bap- 
tism was  not  instituted  by  Christ  in  the  days  of  His 

1  Phil.  ii.  6-10.  2  St.  John  iii.  5.  «  St.  John  iii.  12. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  9 1 

flesh,  and  before  His  Crucifixion ;  He  waited  until 
after  His  Resurrection,  —  until  He  was  able  to  stand 
forth  in  the  power  of  His  risen  life,  as  King,  before 
He  commissioned  His  disciples  to  go  and  baptize  all 
nations.  The  importance  of  Baptism,  when  we  re- 
member all  this,  can  scarcely  be  over-estimated.  It  is 
not  enough  for  a  follower  of  Christ  simply  to  believe 
inwardly,  he  must  also  be  baptized  outwardly;  for 
the  union  with  Christ,  which  began  at  the  cross,  and 
which  was  continued  in  the  Resurrection,  is  sealed 
and  cemented  by  Christ  Himself  in  this  sacrament 
of  Baptism,  wherein  (i)  the  things  of  earth  and  the 
things  of  Heaven,  outward  and  inward,  natural  and 
spiritual,  are  joined  together;  (2)  we  are  made  to 
share  in  Christ's  risen  life:  and  (3)  are  initiated  as 
members  of  the  everlasting  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
while  we  are  yet  on  the  earth.  All  this  is  most 
clearly  set  forth,  and  especially  the  sanctification  of 
both  body  and  soul  in  Baptism,  by  St.  Paul  when  he 
wrote  to  the  Romans :  "  Know  ye  not  that  so  many 
of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ  were  baptized 
into  His  death?  Therefore,  we  are  buried  with  Him 
by  baptism  into  death,  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised 
up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so 
we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life.  For  if  we  have 
been  planted  together  in  the  likeness  of  His  death, 
we  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  His  Resurrection: 
knowing  this,  that  our  old  man  is  crucified  with  Him, 
that  the  body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed,  that  hence- 
forth we  should  not  serve  sin.  For  he  that  is  dead  is 
freed  from  sin.  Now  if  we  be  dead  with  Christ,  we 
believe  that  we  shall  also  live  with  Him:  knowing- 
that   Christ,   being  raised  from  the  dead,  dieth   no 


92  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

more  ;  death  hath  no  more  dominion  over  Him.  For 
in  that  He  died,  He  died  unto  sin  once :  but  in  that 
He  Hveth,  He  Hveth  unto  God.  Likewise  reckon  ye 
also  yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive 
unto  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Let  not 
sin  therefore  reign  in  your  mortal  body,  that  ye  should 
obey  it  in  the  lusts  thereof."  ^ 

*'  If  Christ  be  in  you,  the  body  is  dead  because  of 
sin ;  but  the  Spirit  is  life  because  of  righteousness. 
But  if  the  Spirit  of  Him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from 
the  dead  dwell  in  you,  He  that  raised  up  Christ  from 
the  dead  shall  also  quicken  your  ino7'tal  bodies  by 
His  Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you."^  And  again,  when 
he  wrote  to  the  Colossians :  **  Buried  with  Him  in 
baptism,  wherein  also  ye  are  risen  with  Him,  through 
the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God,  Who  hath  raised 
Him  from  the  dead."^ 

When  Christ  told  Nicodemus  that  we  must  be  born 
from  above,  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  before  we  can 
enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  He  meant  exactly 
the  same  thing,  and  was  setting  forth  the  self-same 
truth  which  St.  Paul  emphasized  when  he  said, 
**  Therefore  we  are  buried  with  Him  by  baptism 
into  death,  that,  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from 
the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also 
should  walk  in  newness  of  life." 

And  if,  notwithstanding  these  plain  statements  in 
the  New  Testament  itself,  there  is  a  tendency  among 
modern  Christians  to  undervalue  the  importance  of 
Baptism,  the  true,  underlying  reason  is  that  they 
have  lost  the  realization  of  what  the  Resurrection  of 
Christ  means,  together  with  the  relation  which  that 

1  Rom.  vi.  3-12.  2  Rom.  viii.  10,  11.  ^  Col.  ii.  12. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND   THE    RISEN    LIFE  93 

fact  of  our  Lord's  life  bears  to  the  life  of  the  Church. 
No  man  can  be  expected  to  comprehend  Christian 
Baptism  who  does  not  previously  comprehend  the 
meaning  of  Christ's  Resurrection,  and  this  our  Lord 
Himself  intimated  when  He  first  spoke  of  the  new 
birth  by  water  and  the  Spirit;  for  when  Nicodemus 
demurred  and  said,  ''How  can  these  things  be?" 
Christ  plainly  indicated  that  these  things  would 
not  be  understood  until  after  the  Resurrection  and 
Ascension.^ 

Thus,  through  Baptism,  are  we  mysteriously  united, 
in  body  and  soul,  to  our  risen  Lord  in  Heaven.  He 
it  is  Who  was  the  Life,  and  the  Life  was  the  light 
of  men.^  He  it  is,  therefore,  Who  was  the  Lord 
of  nature  and  the  Power  behind  nature,  by  Whom 
all  things  were  created  that  are  in  Heaven  and  in 
earth,  and  by  Whom  all  things  consist.^  He  it  is 
Who,  at  last,  in  the  fulness  of  times,  appeared  /;/ 
natitre  as  the  Word  made  flesh,  dwelling  among  us, 
full  of  grace  and  truth,  as  the  Son  of  Man.*  He  it 
is  Who  proclaimed,  "  I  am  the  Resurrection  and 
the  Life;  he  that  believeth  in  Me,  though  he  were 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live,  and  whosoever  liveth  and 
believeth  in  Me  shall  never  die."  ^  "  Because  I  live, 
ye  shall  live  also."^  He  it  is  (let  us  be  careful  not  to 
lose  the  connection),  Who  gave  power  to  as  many  as 
received  Him  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  which  were 
born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor 

1  "  If  I  have  told  you  earthly  things  and  ye  believe  not,  how  shall 
ye  believe  if  I  tell  you  of  heavenly  things  .<*  And  no  man  hath 
ascended  up  to  Heaven  but  He  that  came  down  from  Heaven,  even 
th«5  Son  of  Man  which  is  in  Heaven"  (St.  John  iii.  12,  13). 

2  St.  John  i.  1-4.        *  St.  John  i.  14.  ^  St.  John  xiv.  19. 
«  Col.  i.  16,  17.            5  St.  John  xi.  25,  26. 


94  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God.^  He  it  is  Who  ex- 
plained that  to  be  thus  born  from  above  into  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  one  must  be  born  of  water  and 
of  the  Spirit.^  And  He  it  is  Who,  as  King  of  Heaven 
and  earth,  therefore  commissioned  His  disciples  to 
go  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them 
in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.3 

If  Baptism  means  all  this  —  a  new  birth  into  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth  after  the  old  man  is 
dead,  and  a  beginning  of  a  new  life  through  the 
power  of  Christ's  Resurrection  —  why  is  not  such  a 
stupendous  change  in  the  condition  of  Christ's  fol- 
lowers marked  by  a  sign  that  is  more  powerful,  more 
convincing  than  the  simple  act  of  baptizing  with 
water  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost?  That  question  has  often  been 
asked,  and,  more  often  still,  silently  pondered  in  per- 
plexity and  doubt.  The  answer  is  that,  in  reality,  the 
greatest  and  most  stupendous  of  all  pledges  accom- 
panies Baptism.  Greater  than  prophecies,  greater 
than  miracles,  greater  than  any  seal  of  truthfulness 
that  the  human  heart  can  imagine,  is  the  word  of  that 
Word  of  God  by  Whom  all  things  were  made,  and 
without  Whom  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made. 
It  is  never  to  be  forgotten  that  both  the  sacraments  of 
Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  are  dependent  for 
their  efficacy  on  the  word  of  the  Divine  Speaker. 
To  the  outer  world,  with  whom  the  word  of  Christ 
means  less  than  many  other  things  in  Heaven  and 
earth,  they  may  be  meaningless  rites ;  but  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Church  they  bring  to  all  true  believers  oneness 
1  St.  John  i.  12,  13.        2  St.  John  iii.  3-5.        ^  st.  Matt,  xxviii.  19. 


HOLY    BAPTISM    AND    THE    RISEN    LIFE  95 

of  Life  with  Him  Who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and 
the  Life,  because  He  who  ordained  these  two  Sac- 
raments of  His  own  Life  by  His  own  word  is  the 
same  Who  has  solemnly  assured  us :  "  Heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass  away,  but  My  words  shall  not  pass 
away."  ^ 

He   Himself  has   said,  "  The   words   that   I   speak 
unto    you,   they    are   spirit   and   they  are    life."  ^     If 


1  Many  shrink  from  receiving  and  believing  all  that  the  Gos- 
pel itself  thus  teaches  regarding  Holy  Baptism,  because  if  they 
accept  the  whole  truth,  they  think  they  would  be  committed  to  the 
belief  that  all  unbaptized  persons  will  be  excluded  from  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven.  They  say  that  such  a  belief  seems  contrary  both  to  the 
Love  of  God  and  the  Justice  of  God,  because  there  are  myriads  of 
upright  men  and  women  in  Christian  as  well  as  heathen  lands, 
myriads  also  of  little,  innocent  children  who  die  unbaptized.  But 
surely,  this  is  a  want  of  faith  in  Christ  and  Christ's  word.  It  is  not 
that  kind  of  faith  which  Abraham,  who  lived  so  many  centuries 
before  Christ,  manifested  when,  as  the  mysterious  judgment  upon 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  was  revealed  to  him,  he  cried,  "  Shall  not  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right.? "  (Gen.  xviii.  25). 

Christ  the  Judge  of  Quick  and  Dead,  Who  said,  "  Except  a  man 
be  bom  of  water  and  the  Spirit  he  cannot  enter  the  Kingdom  of 
God"  (St.  John  iii.  5),  said  also,  to  the  repentant  but  unbaptized 
thief  on  the  cross,  "To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  Me  in  Paradise^'  (St. 
Luke  xxiii.  43)  ;  and  to  His  disciples  about  the  Roman  centurion  • 
"Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in 
Israel.  And  I  say  unto  you,  that  many  shall  come  from  the  east  and 
west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the 
Kingdom  of  God :  but  the  children  of  the  Kingdom  shall  be  cast  out 
into  outer  darkness  "  (St.  Matt.  viii.  10,  11,  12),  If  even  under  human 
governments  it  is  customary  to  allow  the  king  or  chief  magistrate  to 
pardon  malefactors  condemned  under  the  law  of  the  land,  is  it  incon- 
sistent to  suppose  that  a  King  to  Whom  all  power  is  given  in  Heaven 
and  on  earth  is  not  bound  Himself  by  the  laws  of  life  that  bind  us  ? 
or  that  He  can  save  to  the  uttermost  and  supply  every  need  to  those 
who  lack  the  spiritual  opportunities  in  this  life  which  the  children  of 
the  Kingdom  enjoy.-* 

2  St.  John  vi.  6z- 


96  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

our  own  natural  life  is  a  mystery  which  no  human 
mind  has  ever  been  able  to  fathom,  how  can  we  ever 
hope  to  penetrate  that  greater  mystery  of  the  risen 
life  upon  which  those  believers  enter  who  are  born 
again  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit  into  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  ?  We  only  know  that  the  Word  of  God, 
Who  is  at  once  the  source  of  all  physical  and  all 
spiritual  life,  unites  them,  through  the  power  of 
His  Resurrection,  to  Himself;  and  that,  henceforth, 
the  life  that  believers  live  on  this  earth,  the  life  of 
the  body  as  well  as  the  life  of  the  soul,  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God. 


CHAPTER    V 
THE    HOLY   EUCHARIST   AND    THE   ASCENSION 

THE  union  of  the  Christian  believer  with  Christ, 
which  was  begun  at  the  cross,  is  continued 
in  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension.  We  are  "one" 
with  Christ  in  His  death  on  the  cross;  "one"  with 
Him  as  He  rises  from  the  grave,  and  "one"  with 
Him  when  He  ascends  to  Heaven.  This  was  the 
fixed  conviction  of  the  New  Testament  Christians; 
without  this  conviction,  we  circumscribe  the  mean- 
ing of  the  Atonement,  and  our  belief  is  separated 
just  so  far  from  that  of  the  early  Church. 

As  the  Crucifixion  leads  up  to  the  Resurrection, 
so  the  Resurrection  leads  up  to  the  Ascension. 
Between  the  last  two  events  there  was  an  interval 
of  forty  days,  in  which  Christ  remained  on  earth,  to 
convince  His  disciples  "by  many  infallible  proofs," 
that  He  was  indeed  alive ;^  and  when  this  work  was 
completed.  He  ascended  in  bodily  form,  and  with 
all  the  faculties  of  His  human  nature  spiritualized 
and  perfected,  to  His  throne  in  Heaven,  there  to 
continue  the  work  of  that  redemption  which  He  had 
begun  in  this  lower  world,  and  to  wield  "all  power 
in  Heaven  and  on  earth."  Ten  days  afterward, 
from  the  invisible  heavens.  He  sent  down  the  Holy 

1  Acts  i.  3. 
7 


98  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Ghost  to  perfect  His  union  with  His  Church  on 
earth,  as  an  abiding  Presence,  lo,  alway,  unto  the 
end  of  the  world.  Henceforth,  therefore,  to  the 
New  Testament  Christians,  as  all  the  apostolic 
writings  show,  He  was  not  a  past,  but  an  ever- 
living  Leader;  not  an  absent,  but  an  ever-present 
Christ;  a  human  Head  of  the  Church  in  Heaven, 
Whom  God  had  exalted  to  His  own  right  hand. 
Whose  Manhood  had  been  taken  up  into  God,  and 
Who  henceforth  was  to  be  to  His  Church  on  earth 
the  ever-speaking  Prophet,  the  ever-officiating  Priest, 
and  the  ever-reigning  King. 

As  Prophet,  He  revealed  through  the  Holy  Ghost 
the  profound  depth  of  meaning  in  the  past  events  of 
His  earthly  life,  in  His  holy  Incarnation,  and  His 
Cross  and  Passion ;  in  His  precious  Death  and  Burial, 
in  His  glorious  Resurrection  and  Ascension.  And 
if  the  Gospels  are  a  record  of  His  life  on  earth,  the 
Epistles  are  a  revelation  of  His  life  in  Heaven,  and 
contain  the  messages  He  sends  down  to  His  Church 
below. 

As  King,  Christ  is  shaping  the  course  of  earthly 
history  and  ruling  by  those  same  principles  He  set 
forth  in  the  Gospels,  until  the  day  dawns  when 
God's  Kingdom  shall  come,  and  His  will  be  done 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  Heaven.  And  the  civilization 
which  we  behold  to-day  is  the  sign  of  the  growing 
power  of  that  Kingdom,  as  the  ruling  ideas  of  Chris- 
tianity become  more  and  more  the  dominant  forces 
in  the  life  of  the  nations. 

But  it  is  to  the  work  of  Christ  as  Priest  in  Heaven 
that  we  would  chiefly  draw  attention,  because  of  its 
close  and  intimate  relation  to  the  doctrine    of  the 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION      99 

Holy  Eucharist.  From  the  time  of  the  institution  of 
the  Passover,  the  Jews  understood  that  without  the 
shedding  of  blood  there  was  and  could  be  no  remis- 
sion of  sins,  and  this  truth  was  kept  continually 
before  them,  not  only  by  the  slaying  of  the  Passover 
lamb,  but  by  the  daily  morning  and  evening  sacrifice 
of  the  Jewish  ritual.  At  the  same  time  God's 
people  were  unceasingly  reminded  that  the  blood  of 
the  sacrifice  meant  ''the  life  thereof."  All  these 
Jewish  sacrifices  were  typical  of  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ,  Who  is  called  in  the  Scriptures  "the  Lamb 
of  God,  slain  fr6m  the  foundation  of  the  world;" 
that  is,  the  lamb  prophetically  offered  up  by  these 
anticipatory  and  symbolical  sacrifices  of  the  Jewish 
ritual.  The  connection  between  the  type  and  anti- 
type is  a  wide  one.^ 

It  will  suffice  to  dwell  here  upon  one  point.  The 
underlying  idea  of  all  the  Jewish  sacrifices  was  that 
the  blood  of  the  sacrifice  was  the  life  of  the  sacrifice. 
The  people  were  forbidden  to  eat  blood  because  the 
blood  represents  the  physical  life  as  it  is,  and  as 
such,  was  given  upon  the  altar  to  make  atonement 
for  men's  sins.  The  offerer  of  the  sacrifice  slew 
the  lamb  with  his  own  hands  for  his  own  sins. 

Then  the  blood  that  was  released  was  offered  by 
the  priest  upon  the  altar,  and  thus  symbolically 
united  to  God.  Dr.  Westcott  truly  says :  "  More- 
over, the  blood  already  shed  is  distinctly  treated  as 
living.  When  it  is  sprinkled  upon  the  altar  it 
makes  atonement    in  virtue  of   the   life  that    is  in 

1  This  subject  is  treated  more  at  length  by  the  writer  elsewhere, 
and  the  reader  is  referred  to  page  345  of"  The  Creedless  Gospel  and 
the  Gospel  Creed  "  for  its  fuller  consideration. 


lOO         NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

it."  Yet  the  sacrifice  was  really  dead.  In  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  the  Lamb  of  God  came  to  life 
again.  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  in  body  and  soul. 
If  His  body  was  changed,  the  blood  that  was  in 
His  body  was  changed  also;  if  His  body  was  spirit- 
ualized and  immortalized.  His  blood  was  henceforth 
spiritualized  and  immortalized  also.  The  symbol 
passed  into  a  reality;  the  blood  that  was  in  that 
mysterious  human  body  with  which  Christ  rose  from 
the  grave  and  ascended  to  Heaven,  was  henceforth 
the  life-giving  blood  of  Christ ;  it  was  the  power  of 
an  endless  life  to  those  for  whom  ft  was  shed,  and  to 
whom  it  should  be  imparted. 

When  we  bear  this  Gospel  truth  in  mind,  it  not 
only  illumines  with  spiritual  meaning  all  those 
New  Testament  expressions  regarding  the  blood  of 
Christ  which  we  so  frequently  meet,  but  rescues  us 
from  the  errors  into  which  both  Protestantism  and 
Romanism  have  fallen.  The  prevailing  Protestant 
idea  is  that  the  blood  of  Christ  means  exclusively 
the  death  of  Christ,  the  blood  that  was  shed  upon 
the  cross.  This  is  wholly  a  modern  misconception 
of  Bible  words,  for  to  every  scribe  who  studied  the 
Scriptures,  as  well  as  to  the  whole  Jewish  nation, 
including  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  them- 
selves, the  blood  of  the  sacrifice  always  meant  not 
the  death  but  the  life  of  the  sacrifice.  The  blood  of 
Christ  includes,  of  course,  the  death  of  Christ,  for 
it  was  on  the  cross  that  His  blood  was  poured  out, 
and  thus  made  available  for  others;  but  it  signified 
also,  and  this  was  its  inner  meaning,  "the  life  that 
willingly  passed  through  death  "  to  the  power  of  the 
Resurrection. 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION      lOI 

The  theological  error  of  Romanism,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  even  more  profound.  When  the  Roman 
Church  teaches  that  the  bread  and  wine  in  the 
Eucharist  are  transubstantiated  into  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  Christ,  the  implication  certainly  seems  to 
be  that  the  body  and  blood  of  the  risen  and  ascended 
Christ  are  to-day  exactly  what  they  were  on  the 
night  before  His  Crucifixion,  when  He  first  instituted 
the  Lord's  Supper;  whereas  a  great  and  mysterious 
change  had  taken  place  in  both  when  Christ  rose 
from  the  dead  in  the  power  of  an  endless  life.  The 
doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  would  have  been 
utterly  inconceivable  to  those  who  felt  as  St.  Paul 
felt  when  he  wrote  to  the  Ephesians,  or  St.  John 
when  he  wrote  the  Book  of  Revelation,  or  as  the 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  felt;  for  they 
had  the  intense  realization,  the  overwhelming  con- 
sciousness, that  the  blood  of  Christ  meant  the  Life  of 
the  risen  and  ascended  Christ,  Who  is  now  our  reio:n- 
ing  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King  in  Heaven.  Nor  could 
the  Roman  Church  itself  have  ever  promulgated  a 
doctrine  like  this  had  it  not  lost  or  forgotten  the 
meaning  of  Christ's  Resurrection  and  Ascension  as 
it  was  grasped  and  realized  by  the  primitive  Church. 
Romanism,  in  fact,  like  Protestantism,  has  been  too 
prone  to  regard  the  Crucifixion  as  the  culmination  of 
Christ's  redemptive  work,  and  perhaps  when  we  go 
back  three  centuries  we  will  discover  that  the  latter 
was  really,  but  unconsciously,  biassed  by  the  former 
in  this  direction.  Protestantism  is,  in  this  and 
other  ways,  full  of  Romanistic  germs  without  know- 
ing it.  To-day,  when  we  enter  a  Roman  church, 
the  most  prominent    object   which    meets  our  gaze 


I02  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

is  the  crucifix,  the  representation  of  the  dead  or 
dying  Christ  on  the  cross.  Crucifixes  were  not 
thus  used  in  the  early  Church.  At  Ravenna,  where 
the  oldest  Christian  mosaics  and  sculptures  are 
found,  and  where  many  of  the  churches  date  back  to 
the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  representations  of  the 
Crucifixion  are  conspicuous  by  their  absence. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  those  churches  upon  whose 
altars  there  is  a  simple  cross,  the  cross  from  which 
Christ  ascended  to  Heaven,  are  far  nearer  the  primi- 
tive Faith  and  the  apostolic  Church  of  the  New 
Testament.  Indeed,  the  placing  of  a  crucifix,  in- 
stead of  a  cross,  upon  the  altar  is  apt  to  convey 
a  false  impression  to  the  popular  mind,  for  Christ's 
body  is  no  longer  on  the  cross,  but  in  Heaven;  and 
unless  it  becomes  a  daily  habit,  so  familiar  as  to 
be  almost  second  nature  with  Christian  believers 
to  think  of  Christ's  body  as  in  Heaven,  not  on 
earth,  they  will  be  very  apt  to  lose  or  misunder- 
stand the  real  meaning  of  the  Epistles  of  the  New 
Testament.  There  is  no  greater  corrective  to  the 
exaggerations  and  abnormal  developments  of  such 
Roman  doctrine,  in  this  and  kindred  subjects,  than 
the  teaching  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

"By  His  own  blood  Christ  entered  once  into  the 
holy  place, "^  because  as  He  was,  at  one  and  the 
same  time.  Priest  and  Victim,  — the  Priest  of  God 
and  the  Lamb  of  God,  —  the  living  blood  in  the 
living  Lamb  was  presented  by  the  living  Priest  at 
the  altar  of  Heaven.  Christ,  "because  He  con- 
tinueth  forever,  hath  an  unchangeable  priesthood;  "^ 
therefore    He    is   unceasingly  acting    as   our   great 

1  Heb.  ix.  12.  -  Heb.  vii.  24. 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION     IO3 

Hie:h  Priest  in  Heaven,  "and  is  able  also  to  save 
them  to  the  uttermost  who  come  unto  God  by  Him, 
seeing  He  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for 
them."^ 

The  offering  that  He,  as  Priest,  presents  in 
Heaven  is,  of  course,  in  no  sense  a  renewal  or  repe- 
tition of  that  one,  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  sacri- 
fice, oblation,  and  satisfaction  that  He  made  for  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world  on  the  cross.  As  the  author 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  so  earnestly  and  re- 
peatedly reminds  us,  the  offering  for  sin  was  com- 
pleted forever  when  He  cried  on  the  cross,  '*  It  is 
finished." 

But  the  effect  of  that  sacrifice  is  perpetuated  in 
the  life  of  the  Offerer,  Who  is  at  once  the  Offerer, 
the  Lamb,  and  the  Priest;  and  it  is  continuously 
present  in  the  life  that  willingly  passed  through 
death.  Christ  in  Heaven  stands  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne,  and  of  the  four  living  creatures,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  elders  as  *'a  Lamb,  as  it  had  been 
slain.'' "^  And  at  another  time  He  declares  with  His 
own  voice,  "I  am  He  that  liveth  and  was  dead,  and 
behold  I  am  alive  forevermore. "  ^  He  is  not  merely 
alive,  but  "alive  from  the  dead."  The  idea  there- 
fore of  the  repetition  or  renewal  of  the  sacrifice  on 
the  cross,  either  in  a  Roman  Mass  or  in  any  other 
way,  is  not  only  unscriptural,  but  it  is  false.  For 
the  continuation  of  the  sacrificial  life  and  work  of 
our  great  High  Priest  in  Heaven  excludes  and 
renders  impossible  any  repetition  of  the  sacrifice  for 
sins  on  the  cross. 

1  Heb.  vii.  25.  2  Rgv.  v.  6,  9,  12.  ^  Rgy,  j.  jg. 


I04  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Nor  could  such  an  idea  have  ever  prevailed  if 
the  theology  of  the  middle  ages  had  not  fallen 
below  the  New  Testament  level.  Those  who  argue 
against  the  continuance  of  the  sacrifice  for  sins  in 
the  life  of  Christ  Himself,  stand  side  by  side  with 
those  who  believe  in  the  repetition  or  renewal  of 
that  sacrifice  in  the  Mass.  Both,  in  their  religious 
thinking,  stop  at  the  Crucifixion;  both  have  lost 
the  conception  of  the  glorified  Christ,  and  have 
thus  unconsciously  fallen  below  the  level  of  New 
Testament  truth. 

As  long  as  some  believe  in  the  cessation  of  the 
sacrifice  of  the  cross,  others  will  be  stimulated  into 
believing  in  the  repetition  of  the  sacrifice,  for  ces- 
sation carries  with  it  the  inherent  idea  of  imperfec- 
tion, and  robs  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  at  least  in  this 
one  point,  of  that  essential  superiority  over  the 
ancient  Jewish  sacrifices  which  brought  about  their 
disuse.  The  consciousness  of  the  continuance  of 
Christ's  sacrifice  in  Heaven  was  one  of  the  chief 
influences  that  caused  the  cessation  of  the  Jewish 
sacrifices  among  the  early  Christians.  But  if  the 
idea  of  continuance  is  lost,  that  of  repetition  is  no 
longer  so  completely  negatived.  ^ 

i  The  Protestant  contention,  indeed,  is  that  it  negatives  continu- 
ance equally  with  renewal  and  repetition.  "But  cessation  is  an  essen- 
tial mark  of  imperfection,  as  well  as  renewal  and  repetition.  If  the 
sacrifice  of  the  Cross  ceased  to  be  offered,  it  would  not  have  that  es- 
sential superiority  over  the  sacrifices  of  the  Old  Covenant  which  is 
claimed  for  it  by  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  nor  would  it  so  com- 
pletely have  done  away  with  all  these  sacrifices.  It  has  only  done 
away  with  these  sacrifices  because,  itself  once  offered,  it  continues  to 
be  offered,  and  is  offered  no  longer  on  earth,  but  in  Heaven,  where  it 
has  opened  the  way  for  us  also  to  enter.  "  By  one  offering  He  hath 
perfected  forever  them  that   are  sanctified"  (Heb.  x.  14).     These 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION     IO5 

But  was  the  sacrifice  for  sin  all  the  sacrifice  that 
Christ,  as  our  great  High  Priest,  had  to  offer?  Here 
is  another  error  of  all  those  whose  religious  thinking 
goes  no  further  than  the  Crucifixion.  Following  the 
sacrifice  for  sin  comes  the  continuous  sacrifice  of 
praise  and  thanksgiving  for  men;  the  continuous 
sacrifice  of  prayer  and  intercession  for  men;  the 
continuous  sacrifice  of  imparting  His  life  to  men. 
All  this  will  be  more  fully  treated  later  when  we 
come  to  the  subject  of  Priesthood. 

Sufifice  it  to  say  here,  that  our  whole  conception 
of  Christianity  will  fall  below  the  New  Testament 
level  if  we  fail  to  realize,  as  the  early  Christians 
did,  that  the  ascended  Christ  in  Heaven  is  a  Priest 
forever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek;  and  that  He 
entered  the  holy  place  not  made  with  hands,  to 
begin,   amid    the    endless  alleluias  of   those  angels 


very  words  imply  the  continuance,  not  tlie  cessation,  of  the  offering. 
The  sanctification  is  continuous,  so  also  the  offering  which  sanctifies. 
So  long  as  we  need  sanctification,  so  long  must  the  sacrifice  of  our 
sanctification  continue  to  be  offered.  The  argument  of  the  sacred 
writer  is,  that  the  perfect  offering  once  come  remains  for  the  perfect 
sanctification  of  all  who  come  to  it,  and  only  on  this  account  has  it 
superseded  the  previous  offerings  of  the  law,  which  could  not  "make 
the  comers  thereunto  perfect"  (Heb.  x.  i).  The  previous  offerings 
could  only  sanctify  to  the  purifying  of  the  flesh,  but  the  perfect  offer- 
ing of  Christ  sanctifies  to  the  purifying  of  the  spirit. 

And  it  is  the  off"ering  itself  which  sanctifies,  not  mere  faith  in  the 
fact  that  an  offering  has  been  made.  It  is  to  the  actual  offering  we 
have  to  "  draw  near  with  the  full  assurance  of  faith."  The  very  pur- 
pose of  our  faith  is  to  bring  us  into  real  contact  with  the  real  offer- 
ing. Moreover  it  is  by  our  real  participation  of  it  that  the  perfect 
offering  perfectly  sanctifies.  The  perfect  offering  is  that  which  is  not 
only  offered,  but  partaken  of.  Christ  continues  to  offer  His  one 
offering  for  the  purpose  of  our  participation  of  it.  —  Doctrine  and 
Practice  of  the  Eucharist,  by  the  Rev.  J.  R.  Milne,  pp.  72,  73. 


I06  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

who  rejoice  over  every  sinner  that  repenteth,  His 
work  as  our  ever-interceding  and  ever-officiating 
High  Priest. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  a  point  where  we  should 
consider  the  heavenly  significance  of  that  Feast  of 
His  Love  which  Christ  instituted  a  few  hours  before 
His  death  on  the  cross. 

We  should  observe  that  the  Lord's  Supper  was 
distinctly  anticipatory.  Every  effort  that  commen- 
tators have  put  forth  to  make  the  institution 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  on  Thursday  night  syn- 
chronize with  the  actual  slaying  of  the  passover 
lamb  has  failed,  and  every  explanation  they  have 
offered,  with  this  object  in  view,  is  strained  and 
unsatisfactory.  There  was  evidently  a  purpose  in 
the  very  hour  that  was  chosen,  —  an  intention  that 
it  should  not  synchronize  with  the  slaying  or  offer- 
ing of  the  passover  lamb.  For  Christ  offered  up  His 
body  and  blood  in  will  before  He  offered  His  body 
and  blood  in  deed.  In  the  former  offering,  He  was 
one  with  all  those  of  His  disciples  who  willed  to 
do  God's  will,  and  who,  in  will,  would  be  cruci- 
fied with  Him.  In  the  latter  offering  no  one  could 
unite  with  Him,  or  participate  with  Him,  or  be  cru- 
cified with  Him.  Of  the  first  offering  He  said  to 
His  disciples:  "Do  this  in  remembrance  of  Me." 
Of  the  second,  He  said:  "All  ye  shall  be  offended 
because  of  Me  this  night,  and  shall  leave  Me  alone; 
and  yet  I  am  not  alone,  because  the  Father  is  with 
Me." 

The  reasons  why  the  Lord's  Supper  was  anticipa- 
tory were  (i)  because  it  was  instituted  beforehand  in 
^^remembrance''  of  His  approaching  Death  and  Pas- 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION      I07 

sion.  The  blood  was  in  the  body  of  the  living  Christ 
when  He  spoke,  and  both  were  united  until  the  Cruci- 
fixion. When  in  the  Lord's  Supper  He  separated  them 
prophetically,  saying  first,  "This  is  My  body,"  and 
then,  "This  is  My  blood,"  He  plainly  referred  here 
to  His  future  death  as  though  it  had  already  taken 
place,  and  was  being  already  remembered  and  com- 
memorated as  an  event  of  the  past.  Yet  the  body 
and  blood,  though  thus  separated,  are  not,  and  can- 
not be,  the  body  and  blood  of  the  dead  Christ.  They 
signify  the  life  that  ivillingly  passed  through  death; 
the  life  over  which  death  has  no  power.  The  Com- 
munion Feast  commemorates,  by  anticipation,  not 
only  the  dead  Christ  Who  was  crucified  for  the  sins 
of  the  whole  world  (although  this  is  of  course  in- 
cluded), but  also  the  Living  Christ  as  He  rose 
from  the  dead ;  it  commemorates  the  Lamb  of  God 
Who  came  to  life  again  after  He  was  slain;  it  com- 
memorates Him  who  said  to  St.  John  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, "I  am  He  that  liveth  and  was  dead;  and 
behold  I  am  alive  forevermore,  Amen ;  and  have  the 
keys  of  hell  and  of  death,"  ^ 

(2)  The  Lord's  Supper  is  anticipatory  because 
it  sets  before  us  the  Body  and  Blood  of  this  liv- 
ing, glorified  Christ.  Not  the  physical  body  and 
red  blood  of  the  living  Christ,  as  they  were  before 
the  Crucifixion,  and  as  they  are  imagined  by  those 
who  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation ; 
not  the  lifeless  body  and  blood  of  the  dead  Christ 
after  the  Crucifixion,  and  as  they  are  imagined  by 
those  who  hold  the  Zwinglian  doctrine  that  the 
Holy  Communion  is  a  bare  memorial  of  Christ's 
i  Rev.  i.  18. 


I08  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

death  upon  the  cross;  but  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  as  they  became  after  He  rose  from  the  dead, 
—  the  immortalized,  spiritualized,  glorified  body, 
and  the  immortalized,  spiritualized,  glorified  blood, 
as  they  are  now  united  once  more  in  Him  who 
liveth  and  was  dead,  and  Who  is  forevermore  both 
the  Priest  of  God  and  the  Lamb  of  God.  It  seems 
strange  that  so  few,  so  very  few,  of  Christ's  dis- 
ciples in  these  days,  grasp  this  blessed  satisfying 
truth;  especially  when  it  meets  and  resolves  so 
many  difficulties  as  to  the  choice  by  Christ  of  the 
elements  of  bread  and  wine  to  be  consecrated  as  His 
body  and  His  blood.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  in- 
stituted by  Christ  at  the  season  of  the  Passover. 
The  Apostles  of  Jesus  Christ,  on  the  night  before 
the  Crucifixion,  participated  for  the  last  time  in  the 
Jewish  Passover,  and  then,  immediately  after,  they 
took  their  first  communion.  They  had  heard  Christ 
say  most  solemnly,  "  My  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and 
My  blood  is  drink  indeed."^  And  there  was  the 
flesh  of  the  passover  lamb  —  the  lamb  that  typified 
and  prefigured  the  Lamb  of  God  —  before  them  on 
the  table.  Why  did  not  Christ  choose  and  conse- 
crate the  flesh  of  this  passover  lamb  to  represent 
His  flesh  ?  Why,  after  the  injunctions  of  the  Jewish 
Law  had  been  carefully  observed, ^  was  there  only 
a  loaf  of  bread  and  a  cup  of  wine  left  on  the  table.!* 
Why  did  Christ  take  the  bread  and  say  of  it,  "This 
is  My  body;"  and  then  the  cup,  saying,  "This  is 
My  blood  ^  "  Clearly  because  the  elements  of  bread 
and  wine  must  have  been  more  peculiarly  fitted  than 
the  flesh  of  the  passover  lamb,  or  any  other  natural 

1  St.  John  vi.  55.  2  Ex.  xii.  10 ;  Numb.  ix.  12;  Deut.  xvi.  4. 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION     IO9 

or  earthly  elements,  to  bring  home  to  the  minds  of 
Christ's  followers  for  all  time  a  realization  of  what 
His  immortalized,  spiritualized,  and  glorified  body 
and  blood  were,  and  are,  in  Heaven. 

(3)  The  Lord's  Supper  was  anticipatory  be- 
cause it  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  Christ's 
prophecy  would  be  fulfilled.  "  I  am  the  living  bread 
which  came  down  from  Heaven.  If  any  man  eat  of 
this  bread  he  shall  live  forever,  and  the  bread  that 
I  will  give  is  My  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the 
life  of  the  world.  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the 
Son  of  Man  and  drink  His  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in 
you.  Whoso  eateth  My  flesh  and  drinketh  My  blood 
hath  eternal  life,  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last 
day."  ^  It  will  be  remembered  that  at  the  time  when 
Christ  first  uttered  this  charge,  the  Jews  were  in- 
tensely and  grievously  offended  at  His  words;  and 
the  reason  for  that  strong  manifestation  of  feel- 
ing, which  is  indicated  in  St.  John's  Gospel,  was 
that  their  bitterest  Jewish  prejudices  were  aroused 
by  Christ's  saying.  For  the  law  of  Moses  had 
expressly  and  repeatedly  prohibited  them  from 
drinking  blood.  ^  The  soul  that  drank  blood  was 
to  be  cut  off  from  God's  people.  There  is,  per- 
haps, no  other  instance  in  the  whole  Gospel  where 
Christ's  teachings  ran  so  directly  counter  to  the 
most  solemn  injunctions  of  the  Jewish  law;  and 
therefore  we  are  told  by  St.  John  that  at  this  time 
even  many  of  His  own  disciples  went  back  and 
walked  no  more  with  Him.  Nor  could  they  have 
hoped  so  long  beforehand   to  understand  them,   for 

1  St.  Johnvi.  51,  53,  54. 

2  Lev.  iii.  17;  vii.  26-27;  xvii.  10-14;  xix.  26. 


no  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Christ's  words  had  not  as  yet  been  interpreted  by 
the  Crucifixion,  Resurrection,  and  Ascension.  And 
this  fact  Christ  Himself  expressly  intimated  at  that 
time.  In  answer  to  their  murmurings,  He  told 
them  just  as  plainly  as  He  could  tell  them  at  that 
early  date,  that  these  subsequent  events,  especially 
that  of  the  Ascension,  were  necessary  to  interpret 
His  meaning.  "Doth  this  offend  you.?  What  and 
if  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  asce7id  np  where  He 
was  before.?  It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth,  the 
flesh  profiteth  nothing;  the  words  that  I  speak 
unto  you  they  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life."i 
But  after  the  Ascension,  all  became  so  plain  that 
even  the  reason  for  the  prohibition  in  the  law  of 
Moses  was  self-evident.  The  Jews  had  been  for- 
bidden to  drink  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice  because 
that  blood  was  not  really  a  life-giving  power.  It 
was,  indeed,  called  life^  because  it  was  the  near- 
est approximation  to  life  itself  that  this  world 
afforded;  but  as  it  was,  in  reality,  only  symbolic 
of  the  life  of  the  true  Lamb  of  God,  they  were 
forbidden  to  drink  it.  The  prohibition  was  neces- 
sary to  restrain  them  from  an  utterly  false  belief, 
and  to  keep  them  from  idolatry.  But  when  Christ, 
the  Everlasting  Lamb  of  God,  rose  from  the  dead 
and  ascended  to  Heaven;  when,  in  Him,  mortality 
was  swallowed  up  of  Life  and  His  body  and  blood 
became  spiritualized,  immortalized,  glorified,  then 
they  were  not  a  mere  symbol  of  life,  but  forever, 
indissolubly  connected  with  Him,  Who  is  the  Life 
of  the  world.  They  became,  not  only  a  part  of 
His    glorified    humanity,     but    the    channel  —  the 

1  St.  John  vi.  61-63.  2  Lgy  xvii.  11-14. 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION     I  I  I 

means  of  grace  —  whereby  the  one  Mediator  be- 
tween God  and  man,  now  in  Heaven,  was  able, 
tJirough  His  Junnajiity,  to  infuse  life  into  the  hu- 
manity of  His  disciples  on  earth.  If  He  said  to 
the  Jews  in  Gospel  days,  *'  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh 
of  the  Son  of  Man  and  drink  His  blood,  ye  have 
no  life  in  you,"  He  also  said,  "It  is  the  Spirit 
that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing."  Yet 
there  is  no  contradiction  in  the  two  statements; 
on  the  contrary  they  are  united  in  the  closest  inter- 
relation. For  the  "flesh"  and  "blood"  of  the  Son 
of  Man,  as  the  Jews  understood  His  words,  had  to 
become  changed,  spiritualized,  and  glorified,  before 
they  could  impart  the  spiritual  life  power  of  His 
Resurrection  and  glorified  humanity  to  believers; 
the  body  of  Christ  which  we  receive  in  the  Holy 
Communion  is  "  the  bread  that  cometh  down  from 
Heaven,"  and  the  blood  of  Christ  which  we  re- 
ceive is  the  "Life  of  the  world."  They  are  not, 
we  repeat,  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  as  they 
were  before  His  Crucifixion,  but  as  they  are  now  in 
Heaven,  — ^they  are  Spirit,  they  are  Life. 

(4)  The  Lord's  Supper  was  anticipatory  of  the 
time  when  Christ  should  be  not  an  external  but 
an  internal  presence  to  His  disciples.  Our  Lord 
had  prophesied,  "  He  that  eateth  My  flesh  and 
drinketh  My  blood  dwelleth  in  Me,  and  I  in  Jiiviy  ^ 
It  was  not  till  after  the  Ascension  that  this 
prophecy  was  fulfilled.  Christ  could  not  become  an 
inward  Presence  until  His  glorification  was  com- 
pleted in  Heaven  and  the  Holy  Ghost  was  sent.^ 
After   His  Ascension  this  was,   for  the  first  time, 

1  St.  John  vi.  56.  2  st_  John  xiv.  17-23. 


112  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

realized  by  His  Apostles.  Then  it  is  that  St.  Paul 
is  able  to  exclaim,  "Though  we  have  known  Christ 
after  the  flesh,  yet  henceforth  know  we  Him  so  no 
more;"i  and  then  it  is  that  the  Epistles  begin  to 
teach  us  that  Christ's  followers  are  " /;/  Him''  and 
that  He  is  ''in  than:' 

(5)  the  Lord's  Supper  was  anticipatory  because 
it  was  so  distinctively  eiicJiaristical.  It  was  insti- 
tuted on  the  sad  night  of  the  betrayal.  It  was 
immediately  followed  by  Gethsemane,  by  the  triumph 
of  the  sin  power  of  the  whole  world  over  the  sinless 
Son  of  Man,  by  the  Crucifixion,  by  the  Death  and 
Burial  of  our  Lord.  If  ever  there  were  a  night  of 
darkness  and  sorrow,  it  was  that  Good  Friday  eve. 
Yet  the  service  in  the  upper  room  breathes,  from 
beginning  to  end,  the  joyous  spirit  of  thanksgiv- 
ing. Christ  gave  thanks  as  He  took  the  bread ;  He 
gave  thanks  as  He  took  the  cup;  and  He  said  to  the 
Apostles,  "  Now  is  the  Son  of  Man  glorified,  and  God 
is  glorified  in  Him."^  Clearly  this  Lord's  Supper 
refers  to  something  beyond  the  death  of  Christ; 
yes,  it  even  points  forward  to  something  beyond  the 
sacrifice  for  sin.  It  prophetically  looks  forward  to 
the  time  when  Christ  is  in  Heaven,  offering  up  a 
perpetual  sacrifice  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  and 
intercession  for  men. 

As  Melchizedek,  "King  of  Salem  "  and  "priest  of 
the  most  high  God,"  brought  forth  bread  and  wine 
in  the  king's  dale  to  Abraham,^  so  Christ,  the 
Priest  forever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek,  brings 
forth  bread  and  wine  to  His  disciples  on  earth  before 

1  2  Cor.  V.  i6,  R.  V.  2  St.  John  xiii.  31. 

3  Gen.  xiv.  18. 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION      II 3 

He  parts  with  them,  and  utters  those  mysterious  pro- 
phetic words:  ''I  will  not  drink  henceforth  of  this 
fruit  of  the  vine  until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new 
with  you  in  ]\Iy  Father's  kingdom."^ 

Now,  before  His  death,  He  of  Heaven  joins  with 
them  of  earth  in  that  service  of  thanksgiving,  just 
as,  by  and  by,  after  His  Ascension,  will  they  on 
earth,  by  virtue  of  their  union  with  Him,  be  raised 
up  into  "the  heavenly  places,"  ^  and  join  with  Him 
in  the  Eucharist  of  the  skies  which  He,  our  great 
High  Priest,   is  perpetually  offering. 

As  there  is  a  mysterious  timelessness  in  all 
heavenly  things,  so  there  is  with  this  offering. 
Henceforth  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  our  great  High 
Priest,  is  continuous.  It  is  unending,  because  it  is 
the  unending  sacrifice  of  Divine  Love.  The  one 
perfect  and  sufficient  sacrifice  for  sin  on  the  cross  is 
only  a  part  of  it ;  the  sacrifice  of  praise  and  thanks- 
giving, of  intercession,  of  communion,  are  other 
parts;  but  through  all,  beneath  all,  above  all,  it 
is  the  perpetual  offering  of  love.  This  brings  us, 
in  conclusion,  to  a  very  important  distinction.  In 
the  Lord's  Supper,  in  which  Christ  and  His  dis- 
ciples unite  and  participate,  there  is  Christ's  part 
and  man's  part,  and  Christians  should  be  very  care- 
ful how  they  confuse  the  two  together. 

Christ  and  Christ  alone  offered  up  His  body  and 
blood,  in  actual  fact,  upon  the  cross.  Christ  and 
Christ  alone  offered  His  body  and  blood  in  actual 
fact  as  He  rose  from  the  dead  and  ascended  to 
Heaven.  Christ  and  Christ  alone  is  present  as  the 
Priest  who  offers,  and  the  Lamb  Who  was  offered,  in 

1  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  29.  2  Eph.  ii.  6. 

8 


114         ^EW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Heaven.  His  body  and  blood  are  tJiere,  for  by  His 
own  blood  He  entered  into  the  Holy  place  not  made 
with  hands,  and  His  body  and  blood  are  perpetually 
being  offered  in  Heaven,  for  His  presence  there,  as 
our  great  High  Priest,  is  in  itself  a  perpetual  inter- 
cession for  us. 

Realizing  this  truth  to  the  uttermost,  let  us  now 
turn  to  man's  part  on  earth. 

Every  time  we  celebrate  the  Holy  Communion 
on  earth,  we  join  with  the  worship  of  Heaven  and 
participate  in  the  heavenly  Eucharist.  It  is  to  be 
carefully  noted  in  this  connection  that  throughout 
the  Communion  Service  we  are  continuously  ad- 
dressing and  praying  to  God  the  Father.  While 
Christ,  our  High  Priest,  is  praying  to  the  Father  in 
Heaven,  we  are  praying  to  the  Father  on  earth. 
While  Christ  offers  His  body  and  blood  in  Heaven, 
we  offer,  at  the  same  time,  bread  and  wine  on  earth. 

We  do  not  offer  the  body  and  blood;  that  is 
Christ's  part.  Man's  part  is  to  offer  the  bread  and 
wine.  We  reach  our  highest  act  of  devotion  and 
make  our  highest  Oblation  when  we  say:  "Where- 
fore, O  Lord  and  Heavenly  Father,  according  to  the 
institution  of  Thy  dearly  beloved  Son,  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  we.  Thy  humble  servants,  do  CELE- 
BRATE and  MAKE  here  before  Thy  Divine  Majesty, 
with  these  Thy  holy  gifts  which  we  now  offer  unto 
Thee,  the  memorial  Thy  Son  hath  commanded  us  to 
make;  having  in  remembrance  His  blessed  Pas- 
sion and  precious  Death,  His  mighty  Resurrection 
and  glorious  Ascension;  RENDERING  UNTO  THEE 
MOST  HEARTY  THANKS  for  the  innumerable  benefits 
procured  unto  us  by  the  same." 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION      II 5 

"  The  Oblation  "  for  us  is  the  offering  of  the  bread 
and  wine,  which  never  ceases  to  be  bread  and  wine. 
But  because  we  do  this  in  accordance  with  Christ's 
own  command,  because  we  do  it  in  remembrance 
and  commemoration  not  only  of  what  He  was,  but  of 
what  He  is ;  because  we  pour  out  our  thanksgivings 
to  God  for  the  innumerable  blessings  which  Christ 
by  His  blessed  Passion  and  precious  Death,  His 
mighty  Resurrection  and  glorious  Ascension  has 
brought  to  us,  therefore  He,  our  blessed  Lord,  in 
the  fulness  of  a  love  which  passeth  all  understanding, 
accepts  our  oblation  and  does  with  it  what  we  our- 
selves could  never  do.  He  unites  our  offering  with 
His  offering  and  makes  our  bread  the  Bread  of  Life. 
And  because  He  Himself  in  Heaven  does  this,  we, 
on  earth,  are  able  to  say,  through  our  union  with 
Him,  "Although  we  are  unworthy,  through  our 
manifold  sins,  to  offer  any  sacrifice,  yet  we  be- 
seech Thee  to  accept  this,  our  bounden  duty  and 
service," 

It  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  not  we,  that  consecrates  the 
bread  and  wine.  It  is  Christ  in  Heaven,  the  High 
Priest,  Who  says,  "This  is  My  body,"  "this  is  My 
blood."  How,  or  in  what  way,  Christ  unites  our 
offering  so  closely  with  His  offering  that  He  calls 
the  bread  His  body  and  the  wine  His  blood,  is  and 
will  ever  be  a  mystery  to  men  in  this  lower  world, 
because  it  is  a  truth  of  Heaven,  not  of  earth.  If  we 
know  not  what  kind  of  bodies  we  ourselves  shall 
have  after  the  resurrection,  how  can  we  possibly 
hope  to  comprehend  the  far  greater  and  m.ore  stu- 
pendous mystery  of  Christ's  glorified  humanity  when 
His  Manhood  was  taken  up  into  God.? 


Il6  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Jesus  Christ  once,  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  when 
He  walked  this  earth  as  the  Man  of  Nazareth,  was 
fettered  by  the  limitations  (sin  only  excepted)  of 
our  human  existence.  His  human  presence  then 
was  localized.  But  now  that  His  Manhood  has  been 
taken  up  into  God;  now  that  Jesus  is  "Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  ending,  which  is, 
which  was,  and  which  is  to  come,  the  Almighty,"^ 
His  Presence  is  no  longer  subject  to  limitations  of 
time  and  space,  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  conditioned 
by  them,  for  it  is  a  heavenly  not  an  earthly  presence. 
He  who  sanctifies  the  sacramental  gifts  is  above 
and  beyond  those  gifts  themselves,  in  the  fulness  of 
His  heavenly  presence,  even  while  He  graciously 
and  lovingly  vouchsafes  to  make  them  to  us,  the 
communion  of  His  body  and  blood. 

Again,  while  it  is  true  that  Christ  has  promised 
to  be  present  on  earth  wherever  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together  in  His  Name,"^  we  should  be  ex- 
ceedingly careful  that  we  do  not  press  this  fact  so 
far  that  it  will  exclude  and  shut  out  from  view  an- 
other important  truth.  For  it  is  equally  true  that 
by  virtue  of  our  union  and  communion  with  Him, 
when  we  lift  up  our  hearts  at  the  time  of  "the  Holy 
Eucharist,"  we  ourselves  are  lifted  up  into  the 
heavenly  places,  to  join  with  angels  and  archangels 
and  all  the  company  of  Heaven  in  the  worship  of 
Heaven  itself,  and  to  enter  into  the  Presence  of 
Christ,  our  great  High  Priest,  in  Heaven  itself. 

In  other  words,  we  must  keep  the  wJiole  truth 
before  us  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  If  we  think  of 
the  Presence  of  Christ  with  us  on  earth,  we  are  still 

1  Rev.  i.  8  ;  xxi.  6;  xxii.  13.  2  gt.  Matt,  xviii.  20. 


THE    HOLY    EUCHARIST    AND    THE    ASCENSION      II 7 

more  earnestly  to  think,  in  the  Eucharistic  Service, 
of  our  being  with  Christ  in  the  heavenly  places,  and 
knowing  His  Presence,  as  it  is  manifested,  there. 
And  when  we  thus  rise  to  the  height  and  length  and 
breadth  of  New  Testament  truth,  we  begin  to  realize 
how  utterly  insufficient  are  all  those  sacramental 
theories  which  define  the  manner  of  Christ's  Eucha- 
ristic Presence,  and  of  all  those  sacramental  rites 
and  customs  which  localize  that  mysterious  Presence 
in  the  bread  and  v/ine  alone. 

Time  and  space  are  human  ideas.  They  are  of 
the  earth,  earthly.  When  applied  to  earthly  things, 
they  help  toward  accuracy  of  thought  and  definition; 
but  when  applied  to  heavenly  things,  they  become 
the  expression  of  human  ignorance.  We  know  that 
the  bread,  while  still  bread,  and  that  the  wine, 
while  still  wine,  are  united  to  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  in  Heaven  in  such  a  heavenly,  mysterious 
way  that  our  offering  is  made  by  Him  one  with  His 
offering,  enabling  Him  to  say:  "This  is  My  body," 
"This  is  My  blood."  And  because  He  said  it,  Who 
has  now  entered  within  the  veil  as  our  great  High 
Priest,  we  rest  upon  His  almighty  word.  We  can 
go  no  further  than  this.  We  can  only  say,  in 
faith :  — 

"  Christ  was  the  Word  that  spake  it, 
He  took  the  Bread  and  brake  it. 
And  what  His  word  doth  make  it 
That  I  believe  and  take  it." 

Most  of  the  difficulties  and  controversies  that 
have  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
the  past  nine  hundred  years  are  due  to  the  fact  that 
believers   have    lost    sight    of    that   vision   of   the 


Il8  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

ascended  Christ  which  was  so  constantly  and  so 
vividly  before  the  eyes  of  the  New  Testament 
Christians.  As  the  sacrament  of  Baptism  cannot  be 
understood  apart  from  the  Resurrection,  so  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Holy  Communion  cannot  be  understood 
apart  from  the  Ascension. 

Every  follower  of  Christ  who  feels  the  reality  of 
those  truths  about  the  life  of  our  ascended  Lord 
that  are  emphasized  so  earnestly  and  so  particularly 
in  the  Epistles  to  the  Ephesians  and  the  Hebrews, 
and  who  realizes  what  the  Presence  of  Christ,  as  our 
great  High  Priest,  means,  will  find  his  thought,  his 
reasoning  power,  and  his  devotional  feelings  lifted 
up  above  the  region  of  these  endless  eucharistic  con- 
troversies, because  he  seeks  those  things  which  are 
above,  where  Christ  sitteth,  at  the  right  hand  of 
God. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   CHURCH,   THE   BODY   OF   CHRIST 

THE  first  message  both  of  St.  John  the  Baptist 
and  of  Christ  Himself,  when  they  began  to 
preach,  was  :  "  Repent  ye,  for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
is  at  hand."  ^ 

And  from  this  time  onward,  we  find  that  our 
Lord's  teachings  regarding  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
were  distinctly  progressive,  keeping  pace  with  the 
development  of  Gospel  truth,  but  never  anticipating 
the  sequence  of  events. 

In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  Christ  taught  His 
disciples  to  pray,  "  Our  Father,  Thy  Kingdom  come, 
Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  Heaven,"  imply- 
ing plainly  that  the  growth  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
on  earth  would  depend  upon  the  way  in  which  men 
prayed  and  tried  to  do  God's  will.  And  He  followed 
up  this  charge  by  showing,  in  the  object  teaching  of 
His  own  life  and  example,  how  God's  will  was  to  be 
done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  Heaven. 

At  a  later  day,  Christ  disclosed  the  fact  that  while 
many  were  called,  all  would  be  left  free  to  choose, 
not  only  whether  they  would  obey  or  reject  God's 
will,  but,  also,  what  the  measure  of  their  obedience 
would  be.     And   He  taught  that   the  Kingdom  of 

i  St.  Matt.  iii.  2;  iv.  17. 


I20         NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Heaven  on  earth  would  therefore  include  both  saints 
and  sinners,  those  who  would  be  saved  and  even 
those  w^ho  would  ultimately  be  lost.  This  truth  is 
strikingly  brought  out  in  the  group  of  parables 
recorded  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew's 
Gospel,  and  logically  entails  the  further  truth  that 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth  must  be  visible  as 
well  as  invisible. 

When  the  Apostles  had  been  educated  by  Him 
for  a  year  or  more  in  the  mystery  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven,^  He  began  to  be  much  more  explicit,  for 
they  now  comprehended  that  Christ  had  brought 
down  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  to  earth  through  His 
Incarnation,  and  therefore  their  minds  were  open  to 
the  truth  that  the  Kingdom  was  centred  in  His  own 
Person.  Gradually  but  surely  the  realization  grew 
under  His  teachings  that  it  did  not,  and  could  not, 
exist  apart  from  Him ;  that  it  was  wholly  dependent 
on  Him  and  was  an  emanation  from  Him.  As  the  Cru- 
cifixion drew  near,  Christ's  revelations  on  this  point 
became  very  plain.  *'  I  am  the  door,"  He  said;  "I 
am  the  Good  Shepherd,  who  giveth  His  life  for  the 
sheep;"  "I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life;" 
"  Because  I  live  ye  shall  live  also ;  "  **  I  am  the  Way, 
the  Truth,  and  the  Life,  no  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father  but  by  Me."  "  If  ye  had  known  Me,  ye  should 
have  known  My  Father  also." 

Yet  now  there  appeared  a  strange  paradox  in  His 
teachings.  For,  at  the  very  time  when  He  most 
solemnly  assured  His  disciples  that  He  was  their 
Life  and  would  remain  with  them  forever,  He  also 
said  that  the  time  was  at  hand  when  He  should  be 

1  St.  Markiv.  ii. 


THE    CHURCH,    THE    BODY    OF    CHRIST         121 

taken  from  them,  and  that  '*  it  was  expedient  for  them 
that  He  should  go  away."  Then,  at  the  very  end,  lest 
they  should  miss  the  intentional  paradox  by  a  misin- 
terpretation of  His  plain  words,  — lest,  in  a  word,  they 
should  imagine  that  when  He  really  left  this  earth,  the 
memo)'}!  of  His  teachings.  His  example.  His  life  was 
to  take  the  place  of  His  actual  personal  Presence, — 
Christ  made  use  of  a  remarkable  figure  which  implied 
an  objective  as  well  as  a  subjective  basis  of  union. 
'*  I  am  the  true  Vine,"  He  said  to  them,  a  few  hours 
before  His  Crucifixion.  ''Abide  in  Me,  and  I  in  you. 
As  the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself  except  it 
abide  in  the  vine,  no  more  can  ye  except  ye  abide  in 
Me.  I  am  the  Vine,  ye  are  the  branches :  He  that 
abideth  in  Me  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth 
much  fruit,  for  without  Me,  ye  can  do  nothing."  ^ 

We  can  imagine  the  state  of  bewilderment  in 
the  minds  of  the  Apostles  as  they  listened  to  those 
mysterious  words,  in  the  concluding  chapters  of  St. 
John's  Gospel  in  which  our  Lord's  progressive  teach- 
ings regarding  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth 
reached  their  climax.  Yet  He  could  not  at  that  time 
make  His  meaning  plainer,  for  He  would  not  an- 
ticipate the  results  of  events  that  were  still  in  the 
future. 

And  if  one  asks  why  it  was  that  Christ  did  not  ex- 
plain in  the  Gospels  more  definitely  the  truths  which 
shine  out  so  clearly  in  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  answer  is  as  significant  as  it  is  simple. 

The  teachings  of  Christ  and  the  great  doctrines  of 
the  Gospel  are  so  closely  interwoven  with  the  facts 
of  Christ's  hfe  that  they  cannot  possibly  be  under- 

1  St.  John  XV.  I,  4,  5. 


122  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

stood  or  interpreted  apart  from  the  actual  events 
themselves. 

And  these  events,  in  like  manner,  are  so  indissol- 
ubly  bound  together,  in  interrelation  and  interdepen- 
dence, as  to  be  inseparable  one  from  another.  The 
Crucifixion  cannot  be  isolated  from  the  Resurrection, 
the  Resurrection  is  incomplete  without  the  Ascen- 
sion, the  Ascension  cannot  possibly  be  compre- 
hended without  Pentecost.  As  we  have  repeatedly 
said,  the  Atonement,  which  began  at  the  Cross,  does 
not  end  until  the  Holy  Ghost  is  sent  down  to  regen- 
erate humanity;  nor  can  men  on  earth  become  so 
completely  one  with  Christ  in  Heaven  that  they  are 
in  Christ  and  Christ  is  in  them,  unless  the  union  is 
perfected  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Pentecost  was,  therefore,  the  birthday  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  on  earth ;  the  time  when  the  Gospel  prom- 
ises of  Christ  reached  their  blessed  fulfilment,  and 
when  all  His  anticipatory  teachings  regarding  *'  a 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  "  on  earth  were  at  last  to  be 
interpreted,  realized,  and  fulfilled  in  the  history  of 
His  Church.  Henceforth,  therefore,  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Christianity,  the  Kingdom  is  called  by  this 
new  name,  and  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  while 
in  the  Gospels  the  phrase  "Kingdom  of  Heaven" 
occurs  over  a  hundred  times,  and  the  word  "Church" 
only  two  or  three  times,  in  the  Epistles  of  the  New 
Testament,  written  after  Pentecost,  the  word  "  Church  " 
appears  over  a  hundred  times,  while  the  "  King- 
dom of  God  "  is  not  used  a  dozen  times.  The  ex- 
planation is  that  the  Church  of  Christ  became  after 
Pentecost  the  organized  Kingdom  of  Heaven  on 
earth. 


THE    CHURCH,    THE    BODY    OF    CHRIST         1 23 

Observe,  however,  that  it  was  an  organism,  not  an 
organization.  This  distinction  is  never  to  be  lost  sight 
of.  An  organization  is  a  federation  formed  by  men  ; 
an  organism  is  a  body  endued  with  the  power  of  hfe 
and  created  by  God.  Observe  again :  though  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  began  in  Christ's  own  Person 
when  He  brought  Heaven  to  earth  and  came  in  per- 
sonal contact  with  men,  the  Church,  or  organized 
Kingdom,  did  not  begin  until  He  went  back  to 
Heaven,  and  sent  the  Holy  Ghost,  enduing  them 
with  power  from  on  high,  to  carry  on  the  work 
which  He  had  taught  them  to  do,  and  which  He 
had,  by  His  iife  and  death.  His  Resurrection  and 
Ascension,  made  possible.  After  Pentecost,  through 
the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  understood 
as  never  before  how  completely  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  was  centred  in  His  own  Person.  For  if, 
by  His  Incarnation  and  Nativity,  He  in  His  own 
Person  had  brought  Heaven  down  to  earth,  so,  by 
His  Resurrection  and  Ascension,  He  in  His  own 
Person  had  raised  earth  to  Heaven,  where  He  was 
henceforth  to  sit  on  the  right  hand  of  God  as  the 
Prophet  of  Humanity,  the  Priest  of  His  Church,  and 
the  King  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth. 
When,  therefore,  from  His  throne  in  Heaven  He  sent 
down  the  Holy  Ghost  as  **  the  Lord  and  Giver  of 
Life,"  His  Church  became  a  living  organism,  in  which 
His  people  were  united  with  Him,  their  Head,  in 
Heaven.  It  was  an  organism  in  the  truest  sense  of 
the  word,  because  its  whole  life  was  centred  in 
Christ  in  Heaven,  and  depended  upon  that  one  great 
Personality  which  lovingly  overshadowed,  without 
destroying  the  human  personalities  of  His  people. 


124  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

It  is  an  organism  inspired  by  the  one  mind  of 
Christ  in  Heaven,  to  Whose  teachings  His  people 
rejoice  to  surrender  their  intellects,  *'  casting  down 
imaginations,  and  every  high  thing  that  exalteth  itself 
against  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  bringing  into 
captivity  every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ." 
It  is  an  organism  controlled  by  the  one  will  of  Christ 
in  Heaven,  through  which  His  people  become  sancti- 
fied, and  to  whose  rule  they  rejoice  to  surrender  their 
human  wills.  It  is  an  organism  because,  however 
the  members  of  His  Church  may  differ  from  one 
another  in  taste,  disposition,  and  character,  or  in 
spiritual  gifts,  social  spheres,  or  intellectual  aims,  the 
one  united  life  purpose  of  all  His  people  is  to  yield 
themselves  up  in  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  as  human 
organs,  through  which  Christ  in  Heaven  may  con- 
tinue His  work  on  earth. 

It  was  the  intense  realization  and  conviction  of 
this  organic  life  and  organic  unity  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  on  earth  and  of  its  inseparable  union  with 
Him  in  Heaven  which  inspired  St.  Paul  to  call  it 
"  the  Body  of  Christ."  And  it  is  instructive  to  com- 
pare this  description  of  St.  Paul  with  our  Lord's  own 
words  :  "  I  am  the  Vine,  ye  are  the  branches."  Clearly, 
Christ  anticipated  here  His  Apostle's  illustration,  for 
there  is  the  closest  resemblance  between  the  two 
analogies.  It  is  equally  clear  that  our  Lord  could 
not,  before  His  own  Crucifixion,  Resurrection,  and 
Ascension,  go  so  far  as  to  adopt  the  language  of 
St.  Paul  and  call  the  Church  "  His  Body  "  without 
being  misunderstood  and  conveying  a  false  impres- 
sion to  the  minds  of  His  Apostles. 

But  after  Christ  was  in    Heaven,   and   the    Holy 


THE    CHURCH,    THE    BODY    OF    CHRIST        1 25 

Ghost  had  actually  endued  the  Church  with  power 
from  on  high ;  after  its  organic  life  was  objectively 
realized  and  recognized,  St.  Paul's  description  of 
that  Church  as  '*  the  Body  of  Christ "  became  the  in- 
spired interpretation  of  an  existing  reality.  The 
objective  life  of  the  Church  itself  was  a  verification 
and  corroboration  of  his  words. 

Let  us  now  direct  our  attention  more  closely  to 
this  striking  analogy  of  St.  Paul's.  It  is  all  the 
more  remarkable  because  the  human  body,  as  we 
know  it  now,  is  an  earthly,  not  a  heavenly  thing ;  it 
is  visible,  not  ethereal ;  it  is  physical,  not  spiritual ;  it 
is  material,  and  subject  to  all  the  laws  and  limitations 
that  govern  matter.  The  human  body,  again,  is  a 
piece  of  mechanism  in  which  all  the  functions  are 
adapted  to  their  environment,  all  the  organs  have 
their  uses,  and  all  the  members,  by  a  most  wonder- 
ful adjustment,  are  correlated  together.  Indeed,  when 
the  Psalmist  says  that  '*  we  are  fearfully  and  wonder- 
fully made,"  he  anticipates  modern  scientific  discovery. 

If  St.  Paul  had  employed  this  analogy  only  once  or 
twice,  we  might  dismiss  it  as  a  comparison  that  was 
not  to  be  pressed.  But  he  emphasizes  it;  he  dwells 
upon  it  in  detail;  he  recurs  to  it,  again  and  again, 
as  though  it  were  something  more  than  a  mere  illus- 
tration or  metaphor,  as  it  presented  itself  to  his 
mind. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  he  says :  **  We,  being 
many,  are  one  body  in  Christ,  and  everyone  members 
one  of  another."  In  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Cor- 
inthians, he  devotes  a  whole  chapter  to  the  subject, 
and  says :   **  For  as  the  body  is  one  and  hath  many 

1  Rom  xii.  5,  seq. 


126  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

members,  and  all  members  of  that  one  body,  being 
many,  are  one  body,  so  also  is  Christ;  for  by  one 
Spirit  are  we  all  baptized  into  one  body."  ^  In  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  he  devotes  again  a  whole 
chapter  to  the  subject,  and,  after  drawing  out  another 
series  of  lessons,  he  writes :  ''  There  is  one  body  and 
one  Spirit;  "  *'  Unto  every  one  of  us  is  given  grace, 
according  to  the  measure  of  the  gift  of  Christ; 
.  .  .  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of 
Christ;  "  and  holds  up  before  us  the  ideal  of  growing 
"  up  into  Him  in  all  things,  which  is  the  Head,  even 
Christ,  from  Whom  the  whole  body,  fitly  joined  to- 
gether and  compacted  by  that  which  every  joint 
supplieth,  according  to  the  effectual  working  in  the 
measure  of  every  part,  maketh  increase  of  the  body, 
unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in  love."  ^ 

Again,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  He  writes 
that  Christ  "  is  before  all  things,  and  by  Him  all 
things  consist,  and  He  is  the  Head  of  the  Body,  the 
Church."  ^  He  also  warns  the  Colossians  against  the 
danger  of  false  philosophies,  and  of  not  **  holding 
the  Head,  from  which  all  the  body,  by  joints  and 
bands,  having  nourishment,  ministered ;  and,  knit  to- 
gether, increaseth,  with  the  increase  of  God."  *  We 
might  also  add  here,  that  St.  Paul's  whole  teaching 
in  the  third  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians 
flows  from  this  analogy,  nor  can  it  be  fully  compre- 
hended by  those  who  do  not  reaUze  that  they  "  are 
called  in  one  body."  ^ 

1  I  Cor.  xii.  12,  seq.  3  Col,  i.  17,  18. 

2  Eph.  iv.  4,  seq.  4  CqI.  ii.  19. 

s  Col.  iii.  15. 


THE    CHURCH,    THE    BODY    OF    CHRIST         12/ 

We  have  here  the  New  Testament  conception  of 
the  Church,  as  given  by  one  of  Christ's  own  chosen 
Apostles,  and  it  stands  out  in  vivid  contrast  to  the 
ordinary  Protestant  idea  with  which  we  are  famihar. 
In  the  popular  religious  thought  of  the  day,  at  least 
in  America,  the  Church  of  Christ  is  an  inorganic 
society,  whose  sole  bond  of  union  is  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  As  God  is  a  Spirit,  so  the  Kingdom 
of  God  on  this  earth  is  regarded  as  spiritual  and  in- 
visible, and  as  an  inward  *'  Kingdom  of  Souls."  It 
is  looked  upon  as  existing  above  and  apart  from  all 
institutions,  all  ordinances,  all  human  surroundings; 
as  having,  indeed,  temporarily  a  visible  form,  but  only 
by  way  of  accommodation  to  human  weakness. 

Behind  the  visible  church,  men  say,  stands  the  invis- 
ible church ;  and  behind  the  whole  church  stands  the 
greater  "  Kingdom  of  Heaven."  The  visible  is  tem- 
porary, the  invisible  is  eternal.  The  visible  is  the 
shadow,  the  invisible  is  the  reality. 

This  modern  idea  is  one  of  those  side  eddies 
that  so  often  result  from  great  historic  move- 
ments. In  the  Middle  Ages  the  swelling  tide  of 
power  and  influence  in  the  old  historic  Church  be- 
came so  great  that,  in  the  visible  reality  of  the 
Church's  corporate  life,  Christians  were  not  only  in 
great  danger  of  forgetting  the  right  relation  of  the 
Church  to  Christ,  her  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King 
in  Heaven,  but  also  of  having  their  own  individ- 
ual free  will  and  sense  of  personal  responsibility 
destroyed. 

The  analogy  of  the  faith  was  thus  disturbed,  and 
the  great  Protestant  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century  was  the  tremendous  rebound  from  this  ab- 


128  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

normal  development  of  the  Church  idea.  Action  and 
reaction  are  equal,  not  only  in  the  physical,  but  in 
the  moral  world.  The  further  the  pendulum  of 
human  thought  swings  to  one  side  of  truth,  the 
further  it  is  apt  to  go,  afterward,  to  the  other;  and 
in  the  reaction  from  the  exaggerated  conception  of 
the  power  of  the  Church,  and  from  the  domination 
of  her  corporate  life  over  the  individual  lives  of  her 
members,  there  grew  up  in  Protestant  lands  a  bitter 
antagonism  to  the  very  name  of  the  Church,  and 
a  reverence  for  the  sacredness  of  human  personality 
which  soon  passed  into  the  extreme  of  individualism. 
The  peculiarly  robust  though  one-sided  type  of 
Christian  character  developed  under  these  Protestant 
influences,  with  its  stalwart  faith  in  God  and  its  strong 
sense  of  personal  responsibility  to  Christ,  is  a  proof 
how  necessary  a  reaction  in  this  direction  was.  And 
the  fact  that  Protestantism  has  held  its  own  with  such 
persistent  power  for  three  centuries,  is  an  indication 
how  deep-seated  the  disease  in  the  Body  of  Christ 
must  have  been  to  require  so  prolonged  a  cure. 

But  the  attention  of  the  Christian  world  is  now,  at 
last,  being  turned  from  the  past  exaggerations  of 
mediaeval  Christendom  to  the  present  exaggerations 
of  Protestant  systems.  In  the  undue  emphasis  that 
has  been  laid  upon  the  personal  religion  of  the  indi- 
vidual, a  false  feeling  of  independence  has  been  en- 
gendered ;  the  sphere  of  private  judgement  has  been 
overestimated  beyond  all  bounds ;  every  man  has  be- 
come the  maker  of  his  own  creed  and  the  chooser  as 
to  what  he  ought  to  believe  or  not  to  believe. 

A  false  perspective  has  been  thus  created,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  the  sins  of  heresy  and  schism  have 


THE    CHURCH,    THE    BODY    OF    CHRIST         1 29 

been  so  completely  ignored  that  sects  have  multiplied 
indefinitely,  and  the  spirit  of  sect  making  has  been 
fostered  without  restraint;  the  centrifugal  or  distribu- 
tive forces  of  religion  exceeding  its  centripetal  or 
centralizing  influences,  have  disturbed  its  equilib- 
rium; the  individualistic  tendency  to  separation  has 
smothered  the  catholic  tendency  to  unity ;  individual 
religious  life  has  taken  the  place  of  corporate  reli- 
gious life  ;  while  the  Sacraments,  the  Creeds,  the  Min- 
istry of  the  Church  have  been  regarded  as  relics  of  a 
fast  dying  ecclesiasticism  and  "  institutional "  Chris- 
tianity. It  will  be  seen  from  all  this  that  the  whole 
office  and  function  of  the  Church  of  Christ  is  as 
much  undervalued,  in  these  days,  as  it  was  dispro- 
portionately exaggerated  in  the  Middle  Ages.  In- 
deed, this  is  as  far  removed  from  the  New  Testament 
conception  of  the  Church,  on  the  one  side,  as  the 
ideal  of  Hildebrand  or  of  Pope  Innocent  the  III.  was 
on  the  other. 

Yet,  the  evil  cannot  be  counteracted  by  holding 
up  the  true  in  contrast  to  this  false  idea  of  the 
Church,  because  the  real  difficulty  lies  far  below  the 
surface. 

The  reason  for  this  wide  divergence  between  mod- 
ern views  and  New  Testament  teachings  is  to  be 
found,  not  in  different  conceptions  of  the  ChurcJi, 
but  of  Christ  Himself. 

When  Christian  believers  comprehend  that  the 
Incarnation  of  Christ  means  the  union  of  Heaven 
and  earth,  of  the  natural  and  spiritual,  of  the  objec- 
tive and  the  subjective,  of  the  outward  and  the  in- 
ward ;  and  when  they  realize  that  the  Ascension  of 
Christ  in  His  glorified  Manhood,  to  Heaven,  is  the 

9 


130         NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

fulfilling  of  His  Incarnation,  all  difficulties  regarding 
the  objective  and  visible  Church,  with  her  Creeds,  her 
Sacraments,  and  her  Ministry,  will  vanish. 

We  need  not  be  afraid  to  press  St.  Paul's  analogy 
that  the  Church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  for  Church 
history  and  Christian  experience  have  verified  its 
accuracy  and  truth. 

More  than  eighteen  hundred  years  have  come  and 
gone  since  the  Apostle  lived ;  and  in  that  time 
changes  have  taken  place  which  he  could  not  pos- 
sibly have  foreseen.  The  Church  of  Christ,  which 
was  then  confined  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  has  spread  itself  over  the  whole  world,  and 
nations  of  every  tongue  and  clime  and  age  have 
flocked  into  it;  yet  to-day  the  wonderful  fitness  of 
his  analogy  is  seen  and  appreciated  as  never  before. 
Men  as  far  apart  as  the  saints  in  Nero's  household 
are  from  American  factory  hands,  have  all  been 
drawn  together  in  the  one  Church  by  the  one 
supreme  desire  to  do  Christ's  will,  to  think  as  Christ 
thinks,  to  love  sinners  as  Christ  loved  them,  and  to 
carry  on  Christ's  work  in  this  world.  Thousands  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men  in  all  ages  of  the  world  have  had  no  other 
ambition  or  life  object  than  to  serve  Christ,  and 
work  as  faithful  members  of  His  Body,  as  His  hands, 
His  feet,  His  voice.  His  eyes,  in  that  state  of  life  in 
which  it  has  pleased  Christ  to  place  them. 

If  we  were  not  so  familiar  with  this  fact,  it  would 
loom  up  as  the  most  striking  and  wonderful  phe- 
nomenon in  all  human  history. 

Side  by  side  with  this  historic  fact,  there  stands 
another  that  is  equally  marvellous.    Christ  said,  "  By 


THE    CHURCH,    THE    BODY    OF    CHRIST         I3I 

this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  My  disciples,  if  ye 
love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you."  For  eigh- 
teen hundred  years  the  idea  of  brotherhood  has 
found  in  the  Church  of  Christ  such  a  realization  as 
is  seen  nowhere  else  on  this  earth.  All  through 
the  earlier  part  of  the  Christian  era,  as  Milman  so 
strikingly  points  out,  the  Church  was  the  only  really 
democratic  institution  known  to  man.  Her  cathe- 
drals were  the  palaces  of  the  poor,  her  parish 
churches  were  the  homes  of  the  people,  and  it  has 
been  chiefly  through  her  benign  influences  that  the 
social  instincts  of  mankind  have  been  developed. 
The  New  Testament  teaches  everywhere  that  we 
love  God  because  He  Jirst  loved  us,  and  that  Christ 
is  the  source  and  fountain  of  love  in  His  Body,  the 
Church.  And  when  a  disciple  once  surrenders  him- 
self to  the  influences  of  Christ's  love,  he  nmst  love 
others  as  Christ  has  loved  him.  For  such  love  is  one 
and  the  same  power  in  the  human  breast,  whether  it 
takes  a  Godward  or  a  manward  direction.  If  it  is 
increased  in  one  way,  it  is  increased  in  every  way; 
if  a  Christian  loves  God,  he  must  love  his  brother 
also.  In  the  Church  of  Christ  is  witnessed  the  high- 
est manifestation  on  this  earth  of  those  two  Great 
Commandments  of  the  Law,  love  toward  God  and 
love  toward  our  neighbor. 

And  this  truth  is  driven  home  to  the  soul  with  the 
intensity  of  a  deep  spiritual  conviction,  as  the  realiza- 
tion grows  in  the  hearts  of  Christ's  disciples  that  they 
are  members  of  His  Body;  that  every  member  has 
his  own  office  and  his  own  peculiar  gift  of  the  Spirit; 
that  if  one  member  of  the  body  be  exalted,  all  the 
other    members    are    exalted    with   it;    and    that    if 


132  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

one  member  suffers,  all  the  other  members  suffer 
with  it. 

So  closely  are  all  bound  together,  that  no  one  can 
reach  his  highest  selfhood  or  attain  the  greatest 
possibilities  of  his  own  sphere  of  usefulness  except 
through  co-operation  with  others.  He  draws  his  in- 
spirations not  only  from  Christ,  but  from  the  society 
of  believers,  and  both  social  and  Divine  influences  con- 
tribute towards  his  growth  in  grace.  If  he  attempts 
to  live  an  independent  existence,  his  development 
becomes  one-sided ;  if  he  exaggerates  his  sphere  in 
the  Church,  or  refuses  to  take  counsel  of  others,  his 
higher  life  becomes  dwarfed.  As  the  laity  must 
depend  under  God  upon  their  ordained  spiritual 
leaders,  so  the  bishop  in  turn  must  depend  upon  his 
clergy,  and  the  clergy  upon  their  people.  Each  has 
his  or  her  own  place  in  God's  Church,  his  or  her  own 
particular  spiritual  gift  as  a  church  worker,  whether 
it  be  that  of  wisdom  or  understanding,  ghostly  coun- 
sel or  strength,  knowledge  or  godliness  or  the  fear  of 
God.  St.  Paul  sets  before  us  this  high  ideal  of  co- 
operation, in  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  and  in  the  bond 
of  peace  ;  and  it  applies  equally  to  all  parish  life,  to 
all  diocesan  life,  to  the  life  of  every  national  church, 
and  to  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  ages.  Only  by 
following  this  ideal  can  we  build  up  the  Body  of 
Christ  and  hasten  the  day  when  we  shall  all  come,  in 
the  unity  of  the  Faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  Man,  unto  the  measure  of 
the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ. 

That  this  body  of  Christ  is  objective  as  well  as 
subjective,  visible  as  well  as  invisible,  social  as  well 
as  personal,  historical  as  well  as  spiritual,  is  shown 


THE    CHURCH,    THE    BODY    OF    CHRIST         1 33 

by  St.  Paul's  words,  "  By  one  Spirit  are  we  all  ban- 
tizcd  into  one  body,"^  as  well  as  by  all  the  other 
New  Testament  references  to  baptism.  The  risen 
Christ  anchored  this  truth  immutably,  for  all  time, 
by  proclaiming  that  to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
we  must  be  born  of  ivater  and  of  the  Spirit.  By  the 
use  of  the  physical^  element  of  water  our  Lord  has 
linked  together  Heaven  and  earth,  the  natural  and 
the  spiritual,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  mistake  His 
meaning,  and  he  who  comprehends  the  profound  sig- 
nificance of  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation  as  it  is 
revealed  in  the  New  Testament  will  have  no  difficulty 
in  understanding  why  water  is  used  in  Baptism,  or 
bread  and  wine  in  the  Holy  Eucharist;  why  there  is 
a  written  as  well  as  a  living  Word  of  God  ;  why  in  the 
Christian  Ministry  there  is  not  only  the  inward  call  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  but  the  outward  form  of  apostolic 
ordination ;  or  why  those  who  believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  are  associated  together  in  an  objective 
Church  which  is  called  in  the  New  Testament  "  the 
Body  of  Christ." 

1  I  Cor.  xii.  13. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH 

IT  is  inconceivable  that  Christ  should  have  gone 
back  to  Heaven  without  dealing  with  a  subject 
of  such  supreme  importance  as  this  was,  not  only  to 
the  twelve  Apostles,  but  to  the  whole  Christian  Church 
of  future  ages.  Even  if  the  sorrow-stricken  Apostles 
did  not,  in  their  bewilderment,  take  in  the  full  mean- 
ing of  our  Lord's  repeated  declaration  that  He  was 
soon  to  be  taken  from  them,  Christ  Himself  knew 
that  He  was  no  longer  to  be  their  earthly  Guide, 
and  if  He  had  kept  silence  as  to  Who  would  sup- 
ply the  distinct  and  irreparable  loss  of  His  own 
personal  earthly  Presence,  when  He  went  back  to 
Heaven,  the  Christian  religion  would  have  remained 
to  this  day  incomplete.  Indeed,  the  New  Testament 
Christians  themselves  would  have  been  the  first  to 
feel  the  sense  of  loss.  Its  traces  would  and  must 
have  stereotyped  themselves  unmistakably  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  and  their  personal  Epistles.  But 
Christ  anticipated  the  want  before  He  left  the  earth. 
On  the  night  before  His  Crucifixion  He  directed  the 
attention  of  His  twelve  Apostles  to  this  whole  ques- 
tion, telling  them  plainly  that  He  would  send  a 
Vicar  to  continue  His  work  on  earth.  Furthermore, 
He  gave  an  explicit  and  detailed  description  of  the 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 35 

Office  and  Ministration  of  this  Person ;  all  of  which 
will  appear  later,  when  we  come  to  the  consideration 
of  the  details. 


First  of  all,  we  should  take  notice  that  Christ  des- 
cribes this  Vicar  as  taking  the  place  of  His  own 
Earthly  Presence.  "  These  things  have  I  spoken  to 
you,  being  yet  present  zvitJi  you.  But  the  Comforter, 
which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  Whom  the  Father  will 
send  in  My  Name,  He  shall  teach  you  all  things."  ^ 
"  Nevertheless,  I  tell  you  the  truth :  it  is  expedient 
for  you  that  I  go  away,  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the 
Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you ;  but  if  I  depart,  I 
will  send  Him  unto  you."^ 

That  departure  took  place  shortly  afterwards,  when 
Christ  ascended  to  Heaven  to  commence  His  work 
there  as  our  Reigning  King.  He  ascended  with  His 
human  body  into  the  heavenly  places,  for  only  from 
a  throne  in  Heaven  itself  could  the  Son  of  Man 
wield  all  power  in  Heaven  and  on  earth. 

Henceforth,  though  the  distance  between  Heaven 
and  earth  made  no  difference  to  Him,  Who  was 
still  to  be  to  His  disciples  what  He  had  always  been, 
"  Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and 
forever,"  present  with  His  Church,  "  lo,  alway,  to 
the  end  of  the  world,"  it  made  an  overwhelming 
difference  to  tliein.  As  Christ  passed  into  the 
heavens,  to  stand  henceforth  with  a  glorified  human- 
ity, at  the  right  hand  of  God,  He  passed  into  a 
spiritual   realm    where   they  could   not  follow.^     He 

1  St.  John  xiv.  25,  26.  -  St.  John  xvi.  7. 

2  St.  John  viii,  21  ;  xiii.  33,  ^Q). 


136  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHITRCHJSIANSHIP 

was  not  separated  from  them,  but  they,  by  the  very 
constitution  of  their  nature  and  the  hmitation  of  their 
human  minds,  were  separated  from  Him.  Though, 
as  King,  He  was  closer  to  them  than  He  had  been 
when  walking  at  their  side,  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the 
carpenter's  Son,  they,  on  account  of  those  human 
limitations,  were  shut  out  from  realizing,  or  in  any 
way  recognizing.  His  heavenly  Presence ;  and  there- 
fore, as  time  passed  on,  He  would  inevitably  have 
become  to  them  an  absent,  unapproachable  Saviour, 
reigning  in  the  far  distant,  invisible  heavens,  with  an 
impassable  gulf  between  Him  and  themselves,  unless 
they  were   endued  with  some  new  ''  power  from  on 

high." 

In  a  word,  what  the  Apostles  needed  after 
Christ's  Ascension  was  the  personal  presence,  the 
personal  influence,  the  personal  teachings  of  a  Vicar 
of  Christ  on  earth,  Who  would  show  them  how  to 
reach  their  invisible  King  in  Heaven,  bring  messages 
from  their  King  to  His  Church  on  earth,  accommodate 
His  teachings  to  their  earthly  condition  and  limita- 
tions, show  them,  amid  different  earthly  surroundings 
and  the  changing  conditions  of  the  times,  how  to 
conform  to  the  example  of  Christ;  and,  above  all, 
inspire  them  personally  with  the  power  of  Christ's 
hfe. 

Such  must  have  been  the  want  which  the  dis- 
ciples felt  after  Christ's  departure,  and  during  those 
eager  days  of  expectation  which  intervened  between 
the  Ascension  and  Pentecost.  Yet  nowhere  do  we 
gain  the  idea  that  this  was  a  time  of  depression  and 
gloom.  On  the  contrary,  St.  Luke,  who  was  prob- 
ably the   greatest   and    most    accurate    historian   the 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 37 

Christian  Churcli  has  ever  known,  records  that  they 
spent  those  days  in  Jerusalem  with  great  joy  and 
continuous  thanksgivings.^ 

There  is  only  one  way  in  which  we  may  account 
for  this  strange  joy.  They  were  upheld  by  hope, 
and  by  that  promise  of  the  Father  to  which  Christ 
referred  just  before  His  Ascension,  when  He  reminded 
them  of  the  words  He  had  previously  spoken  ^  with 
such  plainness  on  the  night  before  the  Crucifixion. 

Then  came  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  when  the  Holy 
Ghost  descended  upon  them  in  cloven  tongues  of  fire. 
Now,  for  the  first  time,  they  realize  what  *'  the  Promise 
of  the  Father  "  and  the  "  Power  from  on  high  "  mean. 
The  Vicar  of  Christ,  when  He  comes  at  Pentecost,  is 
not  a  new  Incarnation,  because  the  Incarnation  con- 
tinues in  Christ  Himself,  Who  is  now  reigning  in 
Heaven,  as  our  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King,  our  Saviour 
and  our  Judge.  The  Holy  Ghost  is  sent  by  the 
Father  ** ///  Christ  s  Name;'''''  nay,  He  is  sent  by 
Christ  Himself.*  He  is  called  by  St.  Paul  the  Spirit 
of  Christ^  It  is  part  of  His  Mission  to  translate 
the  Revelation  of  God  in  Christ;  or,  to  speak  more 
accurately,  to  spiritualize  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
believers  so  that  they  can  comprehend  it. 

Furthermore,  though  the  term  '*  Vicar  of  Christ" 
is  never  used  in  the  Gospels,  Christ  calls  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Paraclete;  that  is,  the  Advocate  or  Com- 
forter ;  and  the  more  we  poijder  the  meaning  of  this 
comprehensive  New  Testament  word,  the  more  we 
shall  realize  its  divine  significance. 


1  St.  Luke  xxiv.  52,  53. 

3  St.  John  xiv.  26. 

2  Acts  i.  4,  8. 

4  St.  John  xvi.  7. 

^  Rom.  viii.  9. 

138  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

It  covers  all  the  ground  that  the  term  "vicar" 
does,  and  at  the  same  time  signifies  infinitely  more. 
Read  the  Book  of  Acts  and  see  how  this  was  appre- 
ciated and  felt  by  the  Apostles  and  their  contem- 
poraries, and  how  they  put  themselves  under  the 
direction  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  To  a  New  Testament 
Christian,  the  bare  idea  of  supplementing,  by  the 
human  authority  of  any  mortal  man,  this  personal 
guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  God  Himself  would  have 
appeared  nothing  less  than  blasphemous. 

Thus  also  was  it  in  the  post-apostolic  Church.  No 
one  with  any  historical  sense  can  read  the  Fathers  of 
the  first  three  centuries  without  distinguishing  at  a 
glance  how  impossible  it  would  have  been  for  them  to 
tolerate  the  idea  of  a  human  vicar  of  Christ.  The 
supposition  involves  an  anachronism ;  for  it  presup- 
poses conditions  of  thought  utterly  alien  to  the  whole 
tone  of  church  life  at  that  early  day.  The  contrast  in 
this  respect,  indeed,  between  the  periods  A.  D.  63-303 
and  A.  D.  850-1225,  is  evident  to  every  student  of 
church  history. 

When,  in  Western  Europe,  Christian  believers 
began  to  look  no  higher  than  to  the  authority  of  a 
human  vicar  of  Christ,  and  substituted  this  for  the 
divine  influence  of  the  Guide  appointed  by  Christ 
Himself,  the  whole  character  of  New  Testament 
Churchmanship,  as  it  had  manifested  itself  in  the 
former  period,  began  insensibly  to  change. 


n 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  was  to  be  an  invisible  Presence 
in  His  Church;   an  inward,  not  an  outward  Presence; 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 39 

a  Holy  Spirit,  revealing  Himself  only  to  spiritual 
men.  All  this  is  directly  stated  in  Christ's  own 
words:  "  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My  commandments. 
And  I  will  pray  the  Father,  and  He  shall  give  you 
another  Comforter:  .  .  .  even  the  Spirit  of  Truth, 
Whom  the  world  cannot  receive,  because  it  seeth 
Him  not,  neither  knoweth  Him  :  but  ye  know  Him, 
for  He  dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you."  ^ 

It  will  be  observed  that  our  Lord  lays  especial 
emphasis  upon  the  invisibility  of  the  Spirit.  The 
world  cannot  receive  Him  because  He  is  unseen,  and 
because  He  is  beyond  the  world's  power  of  percep- 
tion. God,  the  Holy  Ghost,  hides  Himself  from  the 
unconsecrated  gaze  of  worldly  eyes.  His  ways  are 
not  as  the  world's  ways,  neither  are  His  thoughts  like 
the  world's  thoughts.  He  manifests  Himself  only  to 
those  who  love  Christ  and  keep  His  commandments. 

To  these  also  He  is  just  as  invisible  as  to  the 
outer  world,  but  for  a  different  reason.  The  sight 
revelation  ended  with  Christ.  There  is  but  one 
Incarn-ation.  There  cannot  be  a  second,  for  the 
Incarnation  of  Christ,  as  we  have  said,  continues 
after  He  rose  from  the  dead,  and  ascended  to  Heaven. 
Though  in  Gospel  days  His  followers  had  known 
Christ  after  the  flesh,  they  were  henceforth  to  know 
Him  so  no  more.  The  knowledge  which  began  in 
sight  was  to  pass  beyond  sight,  and  beyond  the  point 
where  it  was  dependent  on  sight.  It  was  to  soar  into 
higher,  more  spiritual  regions  of  knowledge.  It  was 
to  lift  up  their  reasoning  powers  into  the  heavenly 
regions  where  Christ  had  gone  before  ;  it  was  to  bring 
them  a  more  satisfying  certainty,  and  create  in  them 

1  St.  John  xiv.  15,  16,  17. 


140  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

deeper  spiritual  convictions  than  could  be  created  by 
the  things  that  are  seen  and  temporal.  It  was  to 
enable  them  to  realize  the  Presence  of  the  unseen 
Christ,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  such 
a  way  that  though  now  they  saw  Him  not,  yet,  be- 
lieving, they  could  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory. 

Ill 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  was  to  bring  no  new  revela- 
tion, but  to  interpret  the  one  already  given.  "  He 
shall  not  speak  of  Himself,"  was  our  Lord's  plain, 
explicit  declaration. 

Christ  alone  was  the  Word  of  God ;  and  St.  John, 
in  the  prologue  to  his  Gospel,  reveals  the  fulness  of 
meaning  in  that  term.  Without  Him  was  not  any- 
thing made  that  was  made.  He  is  the  Alpha  and 
Omega  of  all  creation.  When  at  last,  after  the  evo- 
lution of  untold  ages,  all  created  nature  blossomed 
out  in  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem,  then  He  who  had  spoken 
heretofore  through  nature  now  spake  as  the  €on  of 
Man ;  and  never  man  spake  like  this  Man.  Heaven 
and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  His  words  shall  not 
pass  away.  For  they  are  the  words  of  the  Word  of 
God.  Eternal  life  and  truth  and  power  were  in  those 
words;  and  therefore  He  assured  His  disciples  :  "If 
ye  abide  in  Me,  and  My  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall 
ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you."^ 

Furthermore,  Christ's  words  were  inseparably  con- 
nected with  His  life.  He  was  the  Word  of  God, 
Who  spoke  both  by  utterance  and  by  deed,  for  His 
example  was  His  teaching  translated  into  the  object 

1  St.  John  XV.  7. 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  I4I 

lessons  of  human  actions,  and  botli  culminated  in  His 
Cross  and  Passion,  His  precious  Death  and  Burial, 
His  glorious  Resurrection  and  Ascension. 

The  outward  Revelation  of  God  ended  in  Him,  and 
was  completed  when  He  sent  down,  through  the 
Holy  Ghost,  those  messages  recorded  in  the  Epistles 
and  the  Book  of  Revelation.^  The  Mission  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  was  not  to  add  any- 
thing to  Christ's  words  :  it  was  to  reveal  their  truth ; 
to  deepen  in  the  minds  of  believers  the  conscious- 
ness and  conviction  of  their  truth ;  to  interpret  and 
illumine  their  truth  to  successive  generations  of  be- 
lievers, by  showing,  as  age  followed  age,  how  won- 
derfully true  they  continue  to  be  to  all  conditions  of 
human  life  and  in  all  the  progressive  developments 
of  human  history.  There  was  no  need  of  any  addi- 
tional or  supplemental  revelation  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
but  there  was  need  of  educating  the  Christian  world 
to  a  true  comprehension  of  the  revelation  already 
given. 

The  history  of  the  Church  itself  has  brought  out 
the  reason  for  our  Lord's  prophecy  that  the  Spirit 
of  Truth  "  shall  not  speak  of  Himself,  but  whatsoever 
He  shall  hear  that  shall  He  speak." 

There  has  been,  indeed,  a  ceaseless  advance  on 
the  part  of  the  Church  in  Christian  truth ;  an  evolu- 
tion of  theology,  a  development  of  the  Christian 
religion,  a  growth  of  the  Church,  a  constant  adap- 
tation of  Christianity  to  the  changing  conditions  of 
the  times,  a  progress  in  the  apprehension  of  Chris- 
tian truth  correspondent  with  the  progress  of  the 
world  itself  in  art  and  science  and  literature,  in  inven- 

1  Rev.  xxii.  16-20. 


142  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

tion  and  discovery.  But  it  is  to  be  observed  that, 
through  all,  Jesus  Christ  remains  the  same  yesterday, 
and  to-day,  and  forever;  the  Faith  once  for  all  de- 
livered to  the  saints  continues  unchanged.  In  the 
evolution  of  theology,  the  faith  which  once  was 
implicit  becomes  more  and  more  explicit.  In  the 
development  of  the  Christian  religion,  new  and  un- 
discovered meanings  are  found  in  the  old  facts  of  the 
Gospel ;  in  the  growth  of  the  Church  the  wonderful 
description  of  St.  Paul,  in  which  he  tells  us  that  the 
Church  is  the  Body  of  Christ,  is  discovered  to  have  a 
profound  depth  of  meaning  that  he  himself  could 
never  have  imagined,  especially  as  regards  the 
changing  conditions  of  successive  ages.  And  the 
lessons  that  the  Church  learns  from  the  progress  of 
science  and  literature  in  the  outer  world  prompt  it  to 
cast  off,  not  any  part  of  the  Christian  Faith,  but  only 
the  false  ideas  about  science  and  history  which  have, 
from  time  to  time,  prevailed  among  Christians,  in 
common  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Through  all.  Christian  progress  has  not  been  away 
from,  but  in  the  Faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints ; 
and  how  much  higher  is  the  plane  of  this  progress, 
how  much  holier  and  more  satisfying  is  this  kind  of 
inspiration,  how  much  nobler  is  the  education  which 
Christians  thus  receive  and  the  kind  of  character  it 
develops  in  them,  than  if  the  outward  revelation 
had  not  ended  in  Christ! 

Therefore,  New  Testament  Churchmanship  requires 
that  the  One  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church 
must  ''  be  persuaded  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  con- 
tain sufficiently  all  doctrine  required  of  necessity  for 
Eternal  Salvation,  and  teach  or  maintain  nothing,  as 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST  ON    EARTH  1 43 

required  of  necessity  to  eternal  salvation,  but  that 
which  she  is  persuaded  maybe  concluded  and  proved 
from  the  same"  (See  Ordination  Offices  of  Bishops 
and  Priests  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer). 

One  has  but  to  compare  this  teaching  of  Christ 
regarding  the  quiet  influence  of  His  Divine  Vicar  with 
the  continuous  utterances  of  a  human  vicar  of  Christ 
on  earth  to  become  conscious  of  a  contrast  that  grows 
more  irreconcilable  the  more  it  is  realized. 


IV 

The  Vicar  whom  Christ  sent  was  to  "  reprove 
[or  convince]  the  world  of  sin,  and  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgement."  ^ 

Here,  let  it  be  noted,  appears  a  prophetic  intima- 
tion of  a  kind  of  influence  that  the  Holy  Ghost  will 
exert,  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Church,  upon  the 
outer  world  itself.  Though  our  Lord  plainly  stated 
that  He  is  a  Spirit  that  the  world  can  neither  receive 
nor  know,  as  a  Divine  Person,  here  He  tells  us  just 
as  plainly  that  the  world  will  be  unconsciously  in- 
fluenced on  the  negative  side  against  sin,  if  not  on 
the  positive  side  toward  holiness,  by  His  Presence  in 
these  three  ways :  ( i )  The  Holy  Ghost  will  bring 
to  thousands  of  careless  sinners  who  do  not  believe 
in  Christ  the  conviction  of  sin  ;  that  is,  the  conscious- 
ness that  they  are  yielding  to  a  spirit  of  lawless- 
ness and  are  living  contrary  to  the  will  of  God.  (2) 
He  will  also,  in  the  absence  of  Christ  Himself,  and 
of  the  direct  influence  of  His  words  and  example, 
"  convince  the  world  of  righteousness ;  "  that  is,  bring 

1  St.  John  xvi.  8. 


144  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

home  to  the  consciences  of  sinners  the  indirect  influ- 
ences of  Christianity,  fiUing  them  with  a  desire  to  do 
right.  (3)  He  will  "  convince  the  world  of  judge- 
ment, because  the  prince  of  this  world  is  judged."  ^ 
While  one  hesitates  about  the  exact  interpretation  of 
those  last  mysterious  words  of  Christ,  they  seem  to 
indicate  that  through  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
worldly  hearts  will  be  inspired  with  a  secret  dread  of 
coming  judgements  of  God,  and  also  with  a  certain 
capacity  to  see  for  themselves  that  wrong-doing  al- 
ways, sooner  or  later,  brings  its  own  punishment. 

In  the  course  of  human  history  through  eighteen 
Christian  centuries,  we  seem  to  see  a  striking  corrob- 
oration of  this  prophecy.  While,  on  the  one  hand, 
we  behold  an  unmistakable  correlation  between 
Christianity  and  civilization,  at  the  same  time  we 
recognize,  on  the  other,  a  plain  diff"erentiation  be- 
tween the  Church  of  Christ  and  the  civilized  na- 
tions by  which  it  is  surrounded.  The  anomaly  is 
one  that  has  perplexed  many  thoughtful  minds.  In 
a  certain  sense  a  whole  nation  is  christianized ;  in 
another  sense,  it  is  very  far  from  being  Christian.  Per- 
haps, in  this  description  of  the  v/ork  of  the  Comforter 
given  by  Christ  we  have  the  real  explanation;  namely, 
that  civilization  itself  is  actually  but  unconsciously 
inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost  with  a  hatred  of  the 
spirit  of  lawlessness  or  anarchy,  with  a  love  for  moral 
law  and  order,  and  with  a  dread  of  immorality  and  its 
punishment. 

And  the  remarkable  effect  of  all  this  upon  the 
Christian  consciousness  is,  that  while  Christ's  fol- 
lowers can  on  the  one  side  affirm  positively  that  cer- 

1  St.  John  xvi.  11. 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 45 

tain  essentials  are  generally  necessary  to  salvation, 
such  as  repentance,  faith  and  obedience,  confession 
of  Christ,  Baptism,  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  they  dare 
not,  on  the  other  hand,  deny  salvation  to  those  who 
do  not  fulfil  these  Gospel  requirements;  for  Christ 
plainly  assured  us  that  the  Holy  Ghost  would  influ- 
ence the  world  outside  of  His  Church.  There  are 
numberless  lives  in  this  outside  world  which  show  the 
effects  of  the  Spirit's  working,  and  no  human  being 
can  tell  where  the  line  of  this  unknown  and  mysteri- 
ous influence  ends. 


The  Vicar  of  Christ  was  to  keep  the  remembrance 
of  Christ's  own  life  and  teachings  vivid  and  fresh  in 
the  hearts  of  His  disciples.  "  He  shall  bring  all 
things  to  your  remembrance  whatsoever  I  have  said 
unto  you ;  "  ^  '*  He  shall  testify  of  me,  and  ye  also 
shall  bear  witness;"^  "Whatsoever  He  shall  hear, 
that  shall  He  speak."  "^  The  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy 
is  to  be  actually  seen  in  the  lives  of  the  Apostles  and 
first  followers  of  Christ  by  their  persistent  preaching 
of  Jesus.  They  lived  upon  His  words  and  example, 
and  then,  before  these  first  witnesses  of  Christ  passed 
away,  they  w^ere  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  write 
the  Gospels  and  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament  for 
those  that  came  after.  From  that  day  to  this,  suc- 
ceeding generations  have  treasured  these  writings; 
and  as  age  follows  age,  the  life,  the  words,  the  ex- 
ample of  Christ  are  as  fresh  in  the  hearts  of  Chris- 

1  St.  John  xiv.  26.  2  g^^  John  xvi.  26,  27.    . 

2  St.  John  xvi.  13. 


146  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

tians  as  though  He  Hved  but  yesterday  on  this  earth. 
The  New  Testament  has  influenced  the  Hves  and  char- 
acters of  men,  women,  and  children  of  all  kindreds, 
nations,  tribes,  and  tongues,  as  no  other  book  has 
ever  done.  It  has  been  the  origin  of  the  countless 
reformations  which  have  taken  place  in  Christian 
lands  through  all  these  centuries,  inspiring  Christ's 
followers  with  the  intense  desire  to  live  as  the  New 
Testament  Christians  lived,  and  to  follow  Christ  as 
they  did,  under  the  altered  outward  circumstances  of 
life  that  have  arisen  in  subsequent  centuries.  This 
remembrance  of  Christ's  words  is  something  more  than 
a  mere  natural  recollection.  It  is  a  sanctified  remem- 
brance. Under  the  influence  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ, 
Christ's  words  have  a  living  power.  They  become  ever 
new  and  fresh.  They  are  as  applicable  to  the  condi- 
tions of  the  fourth,  or  the  fifteenth,  or  the  nineteenth 
century,  as  to  those  of  the  first.  They  flash  out  new 
meanings,  undreamed  of  before,  as  time  goes  on. 
They  are  interpreted  by  the  passing  events  of  each 
age.  They  become,  under  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  an  inspiration  to  each  successive  Christian  age, 
because  they  are  the  expression  of  universal  truth. 

Living  in  an  atmosphere  saturated  with  Christian 
teachings  and  associations,  the  very  familiarity  of 
facts  like  these  is  apt  to  blind  one  to  their  significance. 
But  when  we  strive  to  stand  aloof  and  view  Chris- 
tianity, as  it  were,  from  the  outside,  do  we  not  find 
in  these  same  facts  of  Christian  history  a  remarkable 
fulfilment  of  that  prophecy  of  Christ  regarding  this 
especial  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost? 

In  this,  we  have  an  unmistakable  criterion  of  the 
Presence  and  guidance  of  the  Vicar  Whom   Christ 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 47 

appointed  to  take  His  place  on  earth;  and  in  what- 
ever period  of  Church  History  the  Bible  is  neglected 
for  other  teachings,  or  is  not  the  Book  of  all  others 
placed  by  the  Church  in  the  hands  of  Christ's  bap- 
tized followers,  to  mould  their  daily  lives,  this  neglect 
is  positive  evidence  that  some  outside  influence  has 
come  between  the  Spirit  of  Truth  and  human  souls, 
silencing  His  spiritual  promptings  and  altering  those 
normal  conditions  of  Christian  living,  wherein  He  is 
constantly  bringing  to  their  remembrance  whatsoever 
Christ  has  said  unto  them. 

Yet  here  a  distinction  is  to  be  carefully  borne  in 
mind.  Our  Lord  told  His  Apostles  that  He  would 
place  them  under  the  guidance  of  a  Living  Spirit 
of  Truth,  Who  would  thus  bring  His  w^ords  imvardly 
to  their  remembrance.  Christ  said  nothing  regard- 
ing any  written  word.  The  Gospels  are  indeed  the 
outward  means  adopted  by  the  Holy  Spirit  for  keep- 
ing the  memory  of  Christ's  spoken  words  in  the 
hearts  of  His  followers,  but  the  New  Testament  itself 
needs  to  be  constantly  supplemented  by  the  inward 
teachings  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Consequently,  when, 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  western  Christendom  gradually 
learned  to  look  for  guidance  to  a  human  vicar  of 
Christ,  in  place  of  that  Divine  Vicar  Whom  Christ 
Himself  appointed,  the  Bible  became  more  and  more 
neglected,  and  the  remembrance  of  Christ's  w^ords 
ceased  to  be  felt,  as  a  daily  source  of  influence,  in  the 
lives  of  the  people.  Faith  in  Christ  w^as,  indeed,  pre- 
served, and  the  sacraments  of  the  Gospel  were  admin- 
istered. All  over  Europe  faithful  pastors  were  doing 
their  duty  in  the  towns  and  villages,  and  endeavoring 
to  build   up  in  other  ways  the   religious  life  of  the 


148  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSIIIP 

people.  But  somehow  the  void  could  not  be  filled, 
and  the  Christianity  of  the  day  fell  far  below  the 
Gospel  standard. 

Then  came  the  invention  of  printing,  and  the  Word 
of  God  began  to  be  quietly  circulated  in  those  towns 
and  villages.  The  effect  in  England  and  Germany, 
and  wherever  the  Bible  was  really  read,  was  profound, 
and  in  less  than  three  quarters  of  a  century  from 
the  time  when  the  first  printed  Bible  appeared,  the 
Protestant  Reformation  spread  from  land  to  land. 

Then  followed  a  strange  but  almost  inevitable  his- 
torical movement.  The  Bible,  and  the  Bible  only, 
became  the  religion  of  Protestants.  They  believed 
firmly  it  was  true,  in  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 
but  they  held  that  the  only  outward  and  visible  chan- 
nel of  this  guidance  was  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture. The  Bible  was  the  only  organ  through  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  authoritatively  spoke,  inspired  the 
souls  of  men,  and  governed  the  Church.  The  written 
word  was  placed  by  them  above  the  Sacraments, 
above  the  Ministry,  above  all  the  co-ordinated  ways 
in  which  the  Spirit  of  Truth  had  been  guiding  the 
Church  of  Christ  into  all  truth  through  the  Pente- 
costal Age  of  the  Christian  Era.  A  doctrine  of 
verbal  inspiration  grew  up,  under  these  new  limita- 
tions of  Christian  thought,  which  made  Protestants 
the  slaves  of  the  letter  while  they  forgot  the  spirit. 
As  before  the  Reformation,  their  Roman  Catholic 
forefathers  had  looked  up  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
as  the  infallible  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth  ;  so,  since  the 
Reformation,  as  a  substitute  for  this  visible  authority, 
their  Protestant  descendants  have  looked  up  to  an 
infallible  Book  on  earth.     As  the  Romanist  has  been 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 49 

obliged  to  invent  artificial  theories  to  support  his 
ideas  of  an  infallible  human  head  of  the  Church,  so 
the  Protestant,  in  like  manner,  had  to  invent,  to  sup- 
port his  anti-Roman  position,  the  theory  of  a  me- 
chanical verbal  inspiration.  And  all  the  while  both 
Romanist  and  Protestant  have  fallen  so  far  below  the 
primitive  Church  as  to  forget  that  the  real  Vicar  of 
Christ  on  earth  is  God,  the  Holy  Ghost. 


VI 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  is  to  glorify  Christ.  "  He  shall 
glorify  Me:  for  He  shall  receive  of  Mine  and  shall 
show  it  unto  you.  All  things  that  the  Father  hath 
are  Mine :  therefore  said  I,  that  He  shall  take  of 
Mine  and  shall  show  it  unto  you."  ^  Here  our  Lord 
prophesied  that,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  there  was  to  be  an  advance  in  the  knowledge 
and  apprehension  of  that  outward  revelation  which 
was  complete  in  Him.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Christ's  teachings  w^ere  practically  finished  on  the 
night  before  the  the  Crucifixion,  when  He  said  to  His 
disciples,  *'  Hereafter  I  will  not  talk  much  with  you."^ 
Henceforth,  the  actions  of  Christ's  life  were  to  take 
the  place  of  His  spoken  words. 

Yet  this  is  the  most  important  part  of  the  whole 
Gospel  history.  The  triumph  of  Christ's  religion 
begins  just  where  His  teaching  ends ;  namely,  with 
the  Crucifixion,  the  Death  and  Burial,  the  Resurrec- 
tion and  Ascension  into   Heaven. 

Christ  had,  indeed,  revealed  to  His  Apostles  the 
Divine  Nature  of  that  Incarnate  Life  which  is  the  Life 

1  St.  John  xvi.  14,  15.  ^  gt.  John  xiv.  30. 


150         NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

of  the  world  and  the  Light  of  men.  After  His  Resur- 
rection, He  had  also  revealed  the  fact  that  He  was 
now  the  Almighty  King,  to  Whom  all  power  was  giver! 
in  Heaven  and  on  earth,  but  He  never  opened  His 
lips  to  explain  to  His  Apostles  all  that  the  Crucifixion 
meant,  all  that  the  Resurrection  meant,  all  that  the 
Ascension  meant.  His  explanations  ended  before  the 
Crucifixion. 

Christ  had  glorified  His  Father  upon  earth ;  ^  but  how 
was  Christ  Nimse/f  hereafter  to  be  glorified  on  earth? 

The  time  of  His  glorification  began  at  the  very 
period  when  His  own  teachings  ended.  It  began  at 
His  Crucifixion  ;  ^  but  the  Apostles,  before  Pentecost, 
did  not  realize  this.  They  did  not  comprehend  that, 
when  He  rose  from  the  dead,  He  was  really  glorified 
as  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life  of  the  world ;  or 
that,  when  He  ascended  His  throne  in  Heaven,  He 
was  really  glorified  as  the  High  Priest  after  the  order 
of  Melchizedek;  and  that  henceforth  He  was  to  be 
the  Reigning  King  under  Whose  power  and  authority, 
"  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times,  all  things 
shall  be  gathered  together  in  one,  both  which  are  in 
Heaven  and  which  are  on  earth."  ^ 

No  truths  or  discoveries  of  science,  philosophy,  or 
history  are  comparable  in  importance  with  those  stu- 
pendous realities  which  flow  from  the  Crucifixion, 
Resurrection,  and  Ascension  of  Christ  in  His  glorified 
humanity.  Where,  then,  was  the  teacher  to  interpret 
these  facts? 

If  Christ  Himself  did  not  explain  these  events, 
before  their  actual   occurrence,  in  such   a  way  that 

1  St.  John  xvii.  4.  2  g^,  John  xii.  23  ;  xvii.  4,  5. 

^  Eph.  i.  10. 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  I5I 

His  disciples  could  comprehend  them,  it  was  impos- 
sible that  any  of  the  Apostles  after  His  departure 
from  this  earth  could  fathom  their  divine  depth  of 
meaning.  Christ  needed  something  more  than  a 
human  vicar  on  this  earth  to  reveal  the  mystery  of 
His  glorified  humanity. 

Only  that  Person  Who  knows  Christ  as  He  is  now 
in  the  unseen  heavens,  is  capable  of  imparting  this 
knowledge  to  mortal  man  on  earth. 

And  if  we  glance  back  once  more  to  our  Lord's 
words,  w4th  these  thoughts  in  mind,  we  shall  perceive 
that  this  must  have  been  what  He  meant  when  He 
said  of  the  Holy  Ghost:  "  He  shall  glorify  Me :  for 
He  shall  receive  of  Mine  and  shall  show  it  unto  you. 
All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  Mine :  therefore 
said  I,  that  He  shall  take  of  Mine  and  shall  show  it 
unto  you." 

When  we  turn  from  the  Gospels  to  the  Epistles  of 
the  New  Testament,  we  behold  the  distinctive  char- 
acteristics of  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 
Vicar  of  Christ.  There  is  in  the  latter  a  develop- 
ment of  Christian  truth  that  is  far  beyond  what  we 
read  in  the  Gospel  narrative.  While  the  earthly  life 
of  Christ  is  constantly  referred  to  and  taken  for 
granted,  in  these  letters  which  the  Apostles  wrote  to 
the  churches  under  their  care,  the  attention  of  the 
latter  is  ceaselessly  directed  to  the  risen  and  ascended 
Christ;  to  the  power  of  His  Resurrection;^  to  the 
connection  between  Baptism  and  the  Resurrection ;  ^ 
to  the  correlation  between  the  Resurrection  and  na- 
ture ;  ^  to  the  far-reaching  effects  of  His  Ascension 

1  Phil.  iii.  I.  '^  Rom.  vi.  4,  5;  Col.  ii.  12. 

3  I  Cor.  XV. ;  Rom.  viii. 


152  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

and  our  personal  union  with  the  Ascended  Christ;  ^ 
to  the  Church  as  the  Body  of  Christ  ;2  to  Christ  as 
the  coming  Judge ;  ^  to  the  nature  of  sin  and  the  pro- 
found depth  of  meaning  in  the  blood  of  Christ  after 
His  Resurrection  and  Ascension ;  *  and  to  the  con- 
tinuous work  of  Christ  as  our  Royal  High  Priest  in 
Heaven.^ 

In  our  study  of  all  these  Epistles  we  shall  observe, 
first,  that  through  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
the  Apostles  and  New  Testament  Christians  were 
continually  discovering  in  the  Resurrection  and  As- 
cension of  Christ  new  powers ;  and,  second,  that 
there  was  in  these  Epistles  a  note  of  joy  and  of  tri- 
umph that  is  absent  in  the  typical  religious  life  of  our 
modern  Christianity.  Indeed,  when  we  compare  the 
Church  of  to-day  with  the  joyous,  triumphant  Church 
of  New  Testament  days,  there  is  a  contrast  that  is 
almost  startling.  Modern  Christians  are,  in  compari- 
son, dispirited,  lifeless  and  sad,  showing  that  they 
have  fallen  below  the  level  of  the  primitive  Church, 
without  being  conscious  of  the  cause. 

The  Roman  Church,  as  we  said  in  another  chapter, 
stops  at  the  Crucifixion,  and  Protestantism,  at  the 
Atonement  on  the  cross.  While  both  are  techni- 
cally orthodox  in  regard  to  the  facts  and  doctrines  of 
the  Resurrection  and  Ascension  of  Christ,  they  do  not 
appear  to  realize,  as  the  writers  of  the  Epistles  did, 
what  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension  mean ;  while 
both  accept  the  letter,  they  seem  to  have  lost  the 
spirit.     Practically,  in   their   religious   thinking  they 

1  Eph,  i.,  ii.,  iii.  3  j  ^,-,f|  o  Thess. 

2  I  Cor.  xii;  Eph.  iv.,  seq.  ^  I  John. 

^  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 53 

do  not  go  beyond  the  cross,  and  consequently  have 
almost  lost  the  conception  of  the  glorified  Christ. 
What  is  the  cause?  When  we  go  back  to  the  Refor- 
mation, the  reason,  I  think,  becomes  evident. 

Protestantism  laid  hold,  with  a  mighty  grasp,  upon 
one  forgotten  truth, — justification  by  faith,  —  and 
holding  to  that  one  truth,  it  cast  off  the  corruptions 
of  Media:valism.  But  it  was  content  with  mere  pro- 
tests and  denials.  It  never  seemed  to  realize  that 
there  were  other  reforms  even  more  necessary;  that 
there  were  other  forgotten  truths  besides  "  Justifica- 
tion by  Faith,"  or  that  the  w^hole  standard  of  Christi- 
anity in  the  sixteenth  century  had  fallen  insensibly, 
in  spirit,  if  not  in  the  letter  of  formal  orthodoxy,  be- 
low the  standard  of  Christianity  in  the  first  century; 
and  that  this  was  shown  by  the  different  way  in  which 
sixteenth  century  Christians  and  first  century  be- 
lievers regarded  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension  of 
Christ.  And  now,  when  we  go  a  step  further  and  ask 
the  cause  for  this  difference,  we  shall  find  that  it 
antedates  reformation  times  by  several  centuries,  that 
it  characterized  the  mediaeval  theology  of  the  school- 
men, and  that  it  began  about  the  same  time  that  the 
papacy  put  forth  the  claim  of  universal  supremacy. 
Since  that  epoch  the  Roman  Church,  in  her  realiza- 
tion of  Christian  truth,  has  been  apparently  paralyzed 
in  all  her  attempts  to  look  beyond  the  Crucifixion. 
The  reason  for  all  those  facts  that  we  dwelt  upon  in 
the  chapter  on  the  Ascension  is  that  the  Church  of 
Rome  gradually  began  to  lose  the  vision  of  the  Glori- 
fied Christ  from  the  day  that  she  substituted  a  human 
vicar  of  Christ  for  that  Divine  Vicar  Whom  Christ 
Himself  sent  down  into  this  world  to  take  His  place. 


154  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

She  confesses  the  letter,  but  has  lost  the  spirit  and 
the  illumination  of  that  Divine  Guide  Who  reveals 
the  Incarnation  of  Christ  as  a  present  fact,  culminat- 
ing in  His  Ascension  to  be  our  Reigning  King,  and 
in  His  future  coming  to  judge  both  the  quick  and 
the  dead. 

If  she  had  realized  these  great  spiritual  truths  and 
all  that  flows  from  them,  we  should  never  have  heard 
of  the  cultus  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  of  the  mediaeval 
doctrine  of  Transubstantiation,  of  the  Invocation  of 
the  Saints,  or  of  the  distinctively  Roman  conceptions 
of  the  Christian  Priesthood. 


VII 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  is  the  Spirit  of  Truth.  On 
that  same  memorable  night  when  Christ  called  Him- 
self, ''  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life,"  ^  and  when 
He  prayed  for  His  disciples  to  the  Father,  **  This  is 
life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  Thee,  the  only  true 
God,  and  Jesus  Christ  Whom  Thou  hast  sent,"  ^  He 
also  prophesied  that  the  Holy  Ghost  should  come  to 
this  earth  as  a  **  Spirit  of  Truth. "^  The  juxtaposi- 
tion of  these  terms  must  be  something  more  than 
accidental;  and  the  reiterated  emphasis  laid  upon 
the  fact  that  the  Father  is  true,  the  Son  is  true,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  true,  should  not  escape  us. 

The  Holy  Ghost  is  sent  as  the  Revealer  of  Truth, 
to  inspire,  as  a  Spirit  of  Truth,  all  men  who  desire 
to  be  true,  and  thus  enable  them  subjectively  to 
realize    the    truth    of   the    objective    Revelation    of 

1  St.  John  xiv.  6.  -^  St.  John  xvii.  3. 

^  St.  John  xiv.  17  ;  xvi.  13. 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 55 

Jesus  Christ.  As  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  they  are  the  sons  of  God.  Unless  one  is  true 
in  spirit  he  cannot  expect  to  be  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
Truth.  This  explains  to  us  the  reason  why  so  many 
of  those  who  are  baptized  and  confirmed  receive 
apparently  no  gift  of  the  Spirit,  and  why  communi- 
cants of  the  Church  continue  to  remain,  in  such  large 
numbers,  lukewarm  and  worldly,  notwithstanding 
their  frequent  communions. 

And  when  we  pass  from  individual  to  corporate  life, 
from  the  history  of  an  individual  soul  to  the  history 
of  the  Church  at  large,  have  we  not  here  the  clue  to 
many  an  ecclesiastical  movement  of  the  past?  In 
mediaeval  times,  the  standard  of  truth  which  pre- 
vailed as  a  rule  for  centuries  among  the  recognized 
leaders  of  the  Church  —  although  there  have  been 
always  individual  and  conspicuous  exceptions  —  was 
far  below  that  spirit  of  truth  which  the  Gospel  en- 
joins and  which  animated  New  Testament  Christians. 
For,  side  by  side  with  the  preservation  of  the  form 
and  the  letter,  there  was  manifested  a  spirit  of  casu- 
istry, a  tendency  to  substitute  expediency  for  prin- 
ciple, and  to  make  the  end  justify  the  means,  which 
cannot  but  seem  like  disingenuousness. 

It  is  also  a  fact  that,  to  this  day,  the  Papacy  has 
not  only  made  itself  responsible  for  the  code  of 
morals  taught  by  St.  Alphonso  di  Liguori,  but  that 
it  persistently  countenances  opinions,  traditions  of 
saints  and  relics,  superstitions  and  historical  inaccu- 
racies, stories  of  past  miracles  and  reports  of  present 
ones,  w^hich  may  help  to  glorify  the  Church  in  the 
popular  mind,  but  which  no  accurate  and  unbiassed 
scholar  and  no  strict  lover  of  truth  could  ever  accept. 


156  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

These  failings  might  be  passed  over  in  a  spirit  of 
Christian  charity  did  not  the  whole  Church  of  Rome 
profess  to  be  governed  by  the  earthly  vicar  of  Him 
Who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life,  and  Who 
so  expressly  foretold  that  His  Vicar  should  be  the 
Spirit  of  Truth.  Making  that  claim,  it  is  but  just 
and  right  that  the  whole  Christian  world  should 
judge  the  ethical  teachings  of  the  Papacy  by  Christ's 
own  standard. 

Nothing  in  the  Christian  life  is  higher  or  more 
sacred  than  truth  and  truthfulness;  and  in  an  age  of 
enlightenment  like  this,  when  all  science,  philosophy, 
and  literature  are  pervaded  by  the  supreme  desire  to 
be  accurate  and  true,  if  the  Roman  Church  under  the 
leadership  of  an  earthly  vicar  of  Christ  does  not  lead 
and  inspire  the  world  of  science,  philosophy,  and  lit- 
erature by  aiming  for  a  still  higher  standard  of  ac- 
curacy and  truthfulness,  then  Christians  outside  of 
her  communion  must  apply  to  her  Christ's  own  test 
of  those  prophets  who  profess  to  speak  in  His  Name : 
"  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  ^ 

The  Christian  life  from  beginning  to  end  is  one 
of  ceaseless  effort  in  many  directions,  but  the  chief 
effort  of  all  is  the  struggle  to  be  true  —  inwardly  true, 
under  the  eye  of  the  Eternal  Judge  and  through  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Such  an  effort  neces- 
sitates a  constant  dependence  upon  an  unseen,  silent 
Spirit  of  Truth  Who  reveals  His  presence  by  no  out- 
ward manifestations ;  and  that  dependence  necessi- 
tates a  natural  feeling  of  uncertainty  which,  to  a 
sinful  heart,  is  always  burdensome. 

Sinners  do  not  recognize  that  the  uncertainty  itself 
1  St.  Matt.  vii.  20. 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 57 

arises  from  the  conditions  of  human  hfc,and  that  it  is 
exaggerated  by  the  spirit  of  unbeHef 

There  is  no  uncertainty  about  that  positive  outward 
Revelation  of  God  which  was  completed  in  Jesus 
Christ;,  there  is  no  uncertainty  in  Christ's  Promises. 
Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  His  words 
shall  not  pass  away.  There  is  no  uncertainty  about 
the  Presence,  the  inspiration,  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  but  there  is  uncertainty  regarding  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  in 
m.eeting  the  problems  that  are  ever  arising  in  the 
advance  of  human  thought,  in  the  development  of 
Church  life,  the  progress  of  civilization,  and  the  rule 
of  right  in  personal  human  action. 

It  is  not  enough  for  doubting  hearts  that  they 
have  the  certainties  of  the  Gospel  and  the  promised 
assistance  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  in  working  out 
those  problems ;  they  feel  that  all  is  insecure  and 
vague,  unless  they  have  the  additional  certainty  of 
an  authoritative  voice  which  will  declare  to  them  the 
will  of  God  in  things  great  and  small  as  age  follows 
age.  It  is  an  Inexpressible  relief  to  men,  and  often 
to  the  most  intellectual  of  men,  to  escape  the  struggle 
of  spiritual  existence,  the  uncertainty  of  doubt,  the 
divisions  of  Christendom,  and  the  distracting  theo- 
logical systems  of  Protestantism,  by  submission  to 
a  recognized  authority  in  matters  of  belief.  The 
Roman  Church  offers  an  asylum  where  one  may  be 
spared  all  the  pain  and  anxiety  of  thinking  or  decid- 
ing for  himself  and  hence  her  fascination  over  multi- 
tudes of  our  race. 

But  count  the  cost.  The  type  of  Christian  charac- 
ter  developed   under   such  influences  stands  out   in 


158  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

vivid  contrast  to  that  which  in  Nevi^  Testament  times 
was  moulded  under  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth. 
Those  lesser  uncertainties  of  life  which  the  Romanist 
is  saved  from  have,  under  God,  their  purpose  and 
their  use  in  stimulating  Christ's  disciples  to  reach 
out  and  grasp  the  deeper  certainties  of  the  GoFpel. 
God  Himself,  to  the  Christian,  is  not  unknowable. 
Positive  truth,  in  all  its  essentials,  has  been  revealed 
in  Him  Who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life. 
**  This  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  Thee,  the 
only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  Whom  Thou  has 
sent."  ^  As,  therefore,  we  press  toward  the  mark  for 
the  prize  of  our  high  calling  in  God,  we  have  in  our 
Lord's  own  Promise  that  "  the  Spirit  of  Truth  shall 
guide  us  into  a/l  truth,"  the  assurance  that  we  are  on 
the  pathway  of  highest  truth  and  deepest  certainty. 
And  for  those  Christians  who  are  treading  this  path- 
way the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  only  infallible  Guide.  It 
would  be  simply  impossible  for  them  to  submit  to 
any  lower  guide.  This,  of  course,  does  not  militate 
against  the  acceptance  of  the  authority  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church  of  the  ages,  because  it  was  to  the  Church 
collectively  as  represented  by  her  first  Apostles  to 
which  Christ  made  that  definite  promise,  "  He  shall 
guide  you  into  all  truth."  It  is  through  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Spirit  of  Truth  that  the  Church,  by  a 
slow  gravitation  of  thought,  gradually  worked  out 
the  confession  of  her  belief  and  formulated  it  in 
the  Catholic  Creeds.  She  was  thus  legitimately  and 
rightly  bearing  her  witness  to  the  Faith  once  deliv- 
ered to  the  saints ;  if  various  additions  were  made  to 
the  Creed  by  successive  general  councils,  it  was  be- 

1  St.  John  xvii.  3 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 59 

cause,  in  the  Intervening  time,  opposers  had  arisen  to 
invent  a  new  and  strange  interpretation  to  the  old 
Faith,  and  it  therefore  became  necessary  to  protect 
that  Faith  in  its  comprehensiveness  and  integrity  by 
more  definite  phrase,  against  misconstruction. 

The  issue  so  often  made  between  private  judgement 
and  church  authority  is  a  false  issue.  For  the  believer 
who  most  sacredly  respects  and  reverences  his  own 
private  judgement  will  be  the  one  of  all  others  to  use 
his  private  judgement  in  accepting  the  united  judge- 
ment of  generations  of  other  believers,  as  it  has  ex- 
pressed itself  in  the  catholic  consent  of  the  ages.^ 

That  consent  has  been  embodied  and  set  forth  in 
the  Catholic  Creeds.  Only  by  yielding  to  an  author- 
ity like  this,  which  commends  itself  to  every  man's 
conscience  in  the  sight  of  God  as  scriptural,  rational, 
and  moral,  can  that  Unity  of  the  Faith  be  preserved 
of  which  the  New  Testament  so  often  speaks. 

Those  who  yield  to  it  are  simply  carrying  on  the 
continuity  of  the  New  Testament  life.  The  authority 
to  which  they  submit  is  that  of  the  Divine  Guide  Who 
is  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  and  under  it  their  Christian 
freedom  remains  and  develops.  Indeed,  the  more 
unreservedly  they  yield  to  it,  the  less  can  they 
obey  any  false  authority.  They  can  never  rest  sat- 
isfied with  any  doctrine  of  Papal  Infallibility. 

The  Roman  Church  would  deny,  of  course,  that  she 
substitutes  a  human  for  the  Divine  Vicar  of  Christ. 
She  claims  only  that  the  pope  is  an  authoritative  hu- 
man agent  through  whom  the  Spirit  speaks.  This, 
however,  not  only  amounts  to  a  real  substitution  for 

1  This  subject  has  been  more  fully  treated  in  "  The  Creedless 
Gospel  and  the  Gospel  Creed,"  chapter  x.,  pp.  254-256. 


l6o  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

the  work  of  the  Comforter,  as  described  by  Christ, 
but  also  results  in  the  loss  of  that  education  of  char- 
acter which  comes  through  the  Spirit's  guidance. 


VIII 

The  Holy  Ghost  is  the  Comforter.^  This  Gos- 
pel word  has  well-nigh  lost  its  original  depth  of 
meaning  in  the  popular  mind.  "  Comfort,"  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  means  rest  and  relaxation.  As  used 
by  Christ  it  means  to  h^  fortified.  This  last  significa- 
tion is  preserved  and  handed  down  to  us  in  the  Con- 
firmation Office  and  in  the  prayer  breathed  over  the 
candidates:  ^'Strengthen  them,  we  beseech  thee,  O 
Lord,  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter."  The 
Comforter  is  the  Spirit  of  Fortitude,  Who  is  sent 
to  strengthen  Christians  against  that  very  tendency 
to  unbelief  and  moral  cowardice  regarding  the  un- 
certainties of  life  of  which  we  have  just  been 
speaking.  They  need  courage  to  live  up  to  their 
baptismal  vows.  Under  His  influence  they  receive 
power  to  fight  manfully  under  Christ's  banner,  and 
to  continue  His  faithful  soldiers  and  servants  unto 
their  life's  end.  The  comfort  which  the  Comforter 
brings  is  therefore  the  reverse  of  that  unspiritual 
ease  which  a  worldly  heart  craves.  It  is  the  quiet- 
ness and  confidence  that  comes  from  inward  strength 
and  from  the  consciousness  of  being  true.  It  is  the 
exhilaration  that  comes  from  exertion  and  the  joy 
of  triumphing  in  the  midst  of  hardship  and  warfare. 

And  the  results  are  seen  in  the  gradual  develop- 
ment, in  the   followers  of  Christ,  of  a  very  marked 

1  St.  John  xiv. 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  l6l 

and  distinctiv^e  type  of  character,  such  as  befits  those 
who  are  become,  in  New  Testament  language,  **  a 
chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood,  a  holy  nation, 
a  pecuHar  people."  ^  The  very  uncertainties  of  life 
are  with  Christians  changed  from  stumbling-blocks 
into  stepping-stones,  and  lead  to  a  higher  inward 
certainty  of  God  that  is  hidden  from  the  eyes  of 
the  world.  By  continual  exercise,  faith  in  Christ 
becomes  heart-whole  confidence  ;  by  continual,  daily 
dependence  on  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  there  grows  up  in 
a  believer's  breast  a  hatred  for  falsehood  and  unreal- 
ity of  ev^ery  kind,  an  educated  truthfulness  in  motive 
and  speech,  trained  accuracy  in  thought  and  in  judge- 
ment, simplicity  and  directness  in  action. 

Continually  facing  uncertainty  under  the  conscious 
guidance  of  an  unseen  Spirit  of  Truth,  the  Chris- 
tian moves  onward  unto  the  unknown  future  as 
though  it  were  well  known.  He  is  sur^,  whatever 
betide,  that  all  things  work  together  for.  good  to 
them  that  love  God.  While  inwardly  depending 
upon  the  Spirit  of  God,  outwardly  he  becomes  among 
men  more  and  more  self-reliant,  developing  a  char- 
acter, through  that  Spirit's  daily  influence,  that  is 
singularly  robust  and  strong.  It  is  thus  that  the 
Comforter  manifests  His  indwelling  as  the  Spirit 
of  Fortitude. 

In  vivid  contrast  to  this,  stands  that  type  of  Chris- 
tian character  which  has  been  moulded  under  the 
influence  of  obedience  to  a  human  vicar  of  Christ. 
The  pages  of  Church  history  and  of  Christian  bio- 
graphy display  before  our  eyes  the  difl'erent  ethical 
effects  of  these  two  kinds  of  obedience.     In  just  so 

1  I  Peter  ii.  g. 


1 62  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

far  as  men  or  nations  have  yielded  themselves  up  to 
subjection  to  a  human  vicar  of  Christ,  their  spiritual 
growth,  as  a  rule,  seems  to  have  been  arrested, 
retarded,  dwarfed.  A  negative  type  of  Christian 
character  is  developed  among  them  which  is  lacking 
in  robustness  and  mental  vigor;  and  which,  because 
it  avoids  the  normal  conditions  of  spiritual  warfare, 
seems,  in  corresponding  proportion,  to  be  a  stranger 
to  the  inspiring  influences  of  the  Spirit  of  Fortitude. 


IX 

The  Vicar  of  Christ  is  the  Spirit  of  Unity.  Al- 
though this  is  not,  it  is  true,  directly  stated  in  Christ's 
own  description  of  the  Comforter,  it  is  more  than 
implied  in  His  high-priestly  prayer  recorded  in  the 
seventeenth  chapter  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  in  which  all 
His  teachings  on  the  night  before  the  Crucifixion  at- 
tain their  climax.  Surely,  no  words  upon  the  subject 
of  unity  could  be  stronger  than  those  with  which  this 
prayer  ends :  **  That  they  all  may  be  one ;  as  Thou, 
Father,  art  in  Me  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also  may 
be  one  in  Us,  that  the  world  may  believe  that  Thou 
hast  sent  Me.  And  the  glory  which  Thou  gavest  Me, 
I  have  given  them ;  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as 
We  are  One ;  I  in  them  and  Thou  in  Me,  that  they 
may  be  made  perfect  in  One."  ^ 

Christ  here  sets  forth  first  the  everlasting  truth  that 
He  Himself  is  the  centre  of  unity  between  God  and 
Man;  and  that  all  unity  begins  from  above.  It 
begins  at  God,  not  man.  It  begins  with  Christ's 
oneness  with  the  Father ;   and  it  is  a  memorable  his- 

1  St.  John  xvii.  21-23. 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 63 

torical  fact  in  the  annals  of  the  Church,  that  the  first 
step  toward  unity  has  ever  been  the  confession  of  the 
Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 

In  the  second  place,  Christ  speaks  of  His  oneness 
with  His  disciples ;  and  this  is  the  next  step  toward 
unity.  Christians  are  never  brought  together  until 
they  acknowledge  that  Christ  is  "  the  Head  of  every 
man,"  and  then  recognize  that  superhuman  Christ- 
like type  of  character  which  is  created  in  human 
nature  only  by  living  contact  with  the  living  Christ. 

In  the  third  place,  Christ  speaks  of  the  oneness  of 
Christian  believers  with  each  other  through  their 
union  with  Him  and  His  Father.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  there  should  be  no  mention  here  of  the 
Spirit  of  Truth,  of  Whose  presence  and  work  our 
Lord  had  been  speaking  so  earnestly  a  short  time 
before.  But  there  was  a  reason  for  the  omission. 
The  basis  of  all  Christian  unity  lies  in  the  Incarnation 
of  Christ.  It  is  not  spiritual  alone  ;  it  is  both  spiritual 
and  natural.  It  is  objective  as  well  as  subjective, 
outward  as  well  as  inward. 

In  all  ages  we  have  witnessed  an  almost  irresistible 
tendency  on  the  part  of  believers  toward  the  ideal  of 
a  spiritual,  in  contradistinction  to  an  organic,  unity; 
and  down  to  the  present  day  there  are  thousands  of 
Christians  who  hold  this  false  and  unscriptural  view. 
In  Christ's  high-priestly  prayer  this  idea  is  conspic- 
uous by  its  absence.  The  condition  of  all  true  Chris- 
tian unity  is  union  with  the  Incarnate  Christ.  It  is 
only  after  the  Church  is  formed  as  an  organism,  and 
after  it  has  been  recognized  by  the  Apostles  as  the 
Body  of  Christ,  that  the  agency  of  the  Spirit,  as  a 
spirit  of  unity,  is  realized;   and  then  the  recognition 


164  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

appears  to  have  come  empirically  through  experi- 
ence and  observation  of  His  presence  in  the  organism 
itself.  This  is  clearly  brought  out  by  St.  Paul  in  his 
Epistles.  For  example,  after  writing  to  the  Ephe- 
sians  that  they  should  endeavor  to  keep  the  unity  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,  he  goes  on  to  explain 
this  unity  by  saying,  **  There  is  one  body  and  one 
Spirit;  .  .  .  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God 
and  Father  of  all,  Who  is  above  all,  and  through  all, 
and  in  you  all."  ^  And  then  He  reminds  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  that  they  must  keep  looking  up 
to  the  objective  centre  of  unity,  the  Ascended  Christ,^ 
Who  *'  gave  some  [to  be]  apostles ;  and  some,  pro- 
phets ;  and  some,  evangelists  ;  and  some,  pastors  and 
teachers  ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  Body  of 
Christ."  ^  Observe,  that  all  the  essentials  of  unity 
are  here  set  forth,  and  that  they  all  centre,  through 
the  power  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  Ascended  Christ. 
Christ  is  the  Head  of  the  Body;  unto  Whom,  the 
Body,  or  Church,  is  growing  up  ''in  all  things,''^ 
until  it  comes  to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fulness  of  Christ. 

Again,  in  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  St. 
Paul  emphasizes,  once  more,  the  same  intimate  con- 
nection between  the  one  Body  and  the  one  Spirit. 
"  For  as  the  body  [/.  e.  the  human  body]  is  one  and 
hath  many  members,  and  all  members  of  that  one 
body,  being  many,  are  one  body,  so  also  is  Christ. 
For  by  one  Spirit  are  we  all  baptized  into  one  Body, 
whether  we  be  Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether  we  be  bond 

1  Eph.  iv.  4-6.  2  Eph.  iv.  11,  12. 

2  Eph.  iv.  7,  8.  4  Eph.  iv.  15. 


THE    VICAR    OF    CHRIST    ON    EARTH  1 65 

or  free ;   and  have  all  been  made  to  drink  into  one 
Spirit."! 

From  this  one  Spirit,  he  tells  us,  every  member  of 
the  Church,  or  of  the  one  Body,  receives  personally 
and  individually  a  special  spiritual  gift.  In  other 
words,  the  sacred ness  of  human  personality  is  recog- 
nized, and  the  power  of  each  one's  individuality  is 
consecrated.  Every  member  of  the  Church  has  a 
special  work  committed  to  him,  a  special  gift  of 
the  Spirit  to  do  that  work,  and  a  special  responsibility 
to  fulfil,  as  a  child  of  God  and  an  inheritor  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven.  But  if  he  lawlessly  separates 
from  the  rest  of  the  body,  exaggerates  his  special 
work,  his  special  gift,  his  special  responsibility,  with- 
out regard  to  the  work,  the  gifts,  the  responsibilities 
of  others,  then  he  is  guilty  of  the  awful  sin  of 
^^  schism.''  '^  Only  by  working  with  others,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Spirit,  will  his  own  personality  be 
developed  up  to  its  highest  point.  To  grow  in  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  he  must  not  only  be  one  with 
Christ,  but  one  with  Christ's  Body.  To  make  the 
most  of  his  own  spiritual  gift,  and  yet  be  one  in  spirit 
and  in  work,  with  the  saints  of  all  ages  who  compose 
the  Body  of  Christ,  the  Christian  must  put  himself 
under  the  daily  influence  and  guidance  of  the  Vicar 
of  Christ,  that  "  One  Spirit  "  of  Truth  Who  inspires 
all.  For  "  there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same 
Spirit."^  It  is  noteworthy  how  St.  Paul,  in  verse 
after  verse,  keeps  reiterating  and  emphasizing  that 
phrase  **  by  the  same  Spirit^'  as  though  it  were  the 
one  truth  of  all  others  that,  in  dwelling  upon  this 
subject,  he  would  brand  upon  the  hearts  of  the  Cor- 

1  I  Cor.  xii.  12,  13.  '^  I  Cor.  xii.  25.  ^  i  Cor.  xii.  4. 


1 66  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

inthian  Church,  until  the  ruling  thought  of  each  one, 
as  he  marks  the  contrast  between  his  own  and  other's 
gifts,  will  be,  *' All  these  worketh  that  one  and  the 
self-same  Spirit,  dividing  to  every  man  severally  as 
He  will."^  And  the  same  truth  that  applies  to  indi- 
vidual Christians  applies  also  to  congregations  of 
Christians.  Such  is  the  unity  of  the  primitive  Church 
as  it  is  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament.  The  unity  of 
the  One  Holy,  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  as 
portrayed  by  the  Apostles  themselves,  centres  in 
Christ,  begins  and  ends  in  the  Ascended  Christ, 
through  the  power  of  the  unseen  Spirit  of  Truth. 

1  I  Cor,  xii.  II. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION 

THERE  was  certainly  an  Apostolic  Ministry  or- 
dained by  Christ  Himself  in  New  Testament 
times.  To  select  a  few  of  the  many  passages  of 
the  Gospels  showing  this,  our  Lord,  in  the  earlier 
days  of  His  ministry,  told  His  disciples  to  pray  that 
God  would  send  forth  laborers  into  His  harvest; 
and  then,  after  spending  a  whole  night  in  prayer. 
He  chose  His  twelve  Apostles  and  sent  them  forth 
on  their  first  Missionary  Journey.^  At  the  end  of 
three  years,  after  those  Apostles  had  received  at  His 
own  hands  the  most  thorough  and  complete  training 
any  minister  of  Christ  has  ever  received.  He  gath- 
ered them  together  the  night  before  His  Crucifix- 
ion, instituted  the  Holy  Communion,  and  gave  them 
that  parting  charge  recorded  in  the  fourteenth,  fif- 
teenth, and  sixteenth  chapters  of  St.  John's  Gospel, 
in  the  course  of  which  He  said,  "Ye  have  not 
chosen  Me,  but  I  have  chosen  you,  and  ordained 
[or  appointed]  you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bring 
forth  fruit,  and  that  your  fruit  should  remain."  ^ 
Three  days  after,  when  He  appeared  to  them  for 
the  first  time  after  His  Resurrection,  He  said, 
"  Peace  be  unto  you :  as  My  Father  hath   sent  Me^ 

1  St.  Matt.  ix.  36,  seq.  2  St.  John  xv.  16. 


1 68  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

even  so  send  I  yon.  And  when  He  had  said  this, 
He  breathed  on  them,  and  saith  unto  them.  Receive 
ye  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whose  soever  sins  ye  remit, 
they  are  remitted  unto  them;  and  whose  soever 
sins  ye  retain,   they  are  retained."^ 

Afterward,  when  the  risen  Christ  revealed  Him- 
self unto  them  as  the  King,  "to  Whom  all  power 
had  been  given  in  Heaven  and  on  earth,"  He  said 
unto  these  same  Apostles :  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach  [or  make  disciples]  of  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you ;  and  lo,  I 
am  with  yon  aizvay,  even  tmto  the  end  of  the  zvorld, 
Amen.'"^ 

Again,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  we  read  that 
Jesus  appeared,  after  His  Resurrection,  for  forty 
days  "  7cnto  the  Apostles  ivJiom  He  had  chosen "  ^ 
taught  them  in  the  things  pertaining  to  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven ;  commanded  them  not  to  leave 
Jerusalem  until  the  promise  of  the  Father  was  sent; 
and  at  last,  just  before  His  Ascension  to  Heaven, 
commissioned  them  with  these  solemn  words:  "Ye 
shall  receive  power  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
come  upon  you :  and  ye  shall  be  ivitnesses  nnto  Me, 
both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judaea,  and  in  Samaria, 
and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth.  "^  At 
first  these  Apostles  became  the  recognized  leaders 
of  the  Church  and  constituted  its  only  ministry. 
But  after  Pentecost,  the  numbers  of  the  baptized 
disciples  of  Christ  grew  so  rapidly  that  the  twelve 

1  St.  John  XX.  21-23.  ^  Acts  i.  2. 

2  St.  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20.  *  Acts  i.  8. 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  I  69 

were  obliged  by  pressure  of  work  to  resign  the  most 
unimportant  of  their  duties   to  others. 


I 

The  account  of  this  first  extension  of  the  ministry 
is  preserved  to  us  in  the  Book  of  Acts.  The  Apos- 
tles told  the  people  to  select  from  themselves  seven 
men  of  honest  report,  who  were  full  of  wisdom  and 
the  Holy  Ghost.  These  were  "  set  before  the  Apos- 
tles, and  when  they  had  prayed,  they  laid  their  hands 
on  them."^  Henceforth,  therefore,  there  were  two 
orders  in  the  Church,  —  Apostles  and  Deacons. 

After  the  death  of  St.  Stephen  a  persecution 
ensued,  which  drove  the  disciples  out  of  Jerusalem 
to  proclaim  the  Gospel,  and  another  extension  of 
the  ministry  became  necessary.  Pastors,  or  parish 
priests,  were  needed  for  different  congregations, 
and  the  Apostles  assigned  another  and  more  impor- 
tant portion  of  their  own  work  to  a  new  order  of 
ministers,  called  in  the  Book  of  Acts  ^^ Elders.''  It 
is  not  recorded  when  this  second  extension  of  the 
ministry  took  place;  but  as  the  first  mention  of 
'^Elders''  in  the  New  Testament  occurs  in  connec- 
tion with  the  coming  of  a  prophet  to  Antioch  from 
Jerusalem  to  make  known  to  them  a  future  famine 
"in  the  days  of  Claudius  Caesar,"^  it  is  to  be 
noted  that  at  this  early  date,  when  St.  Paul  was 
still  called  "Saul,"  and  before  the  reign  of 
Claudius  Caesar,  there  were  already  elders  occupy- 
ing a  responsible  position  in  the  mother  Church  at 
Jerusalem.      Furthermore,  they  are  referred  to  in  a 

1  Acts  vi.  6.  2  Acts  xi.  28,  30. 


170  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

way  which  indicates  that  they  must  have  been  for 
some  time  a  recognized  part  of  her  organization. 
There  were  then,  at  this  period,  in  Jerusalem, 
Apostles,   Elders,   and  Deacons. 

The  very  next  chapter^  gives  still  another  glimpse 
of  the  organization  of  the  mother  Church.  It 
records  how,  about  that  time,  Herod,  to  vex  the 
Church,  killed  James,  the  brother  of  John,  and  the 
first  martyr  in  the  Apostolic  Band  itself,  with 
the  sword;  how,  when  he  saw  that  this  pleased  the 
Jews,  he  proceeded  to  imprison  the  Apostle  Peter 
also;  and  how  St.  Peter,  released  from  the  prison 
by  an  angel,  in  answer  to  the  unceasing  prayers  of 
the  Church,  went  to  the  memorable  house  of  Mary, 
the  mother  of  St.  Mark,  — the  upper  room  of  which 
one  of  the  most  important  congregations  in  Jerusa- 
lem were  most  probably  wont  to  use  as  a  church,  — ■ 
and  said  to  those  who  were  present,  "  Go  show  these 
things  itnto  James,  and  to  the  brethren,"  and  then 
departed. 

The  way  in  which  St.  James  is  mentioned  here 
by  St.  Peter  is  very  noteworthy.  Yet  alone,  and 
by  itself,  it  might  escape  observation,  were  it  not 
that  St.  Paul  gives  the  same  prominence  to  his 
name  in  writing  to  the  church  in  Galatia^  and 
even  goes  so  far  as  to  place  it  before  those  of  Peter 
and  John,  in  enumerating  those  who  seemed  to  be 
pillars  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem  ^  We  also  find 
that  a  few  years  after,  when  the  Apostles  and 
Elders  came  together  in  Jerusalem  to  consider  the 
most  important  question  that  had  ever  as  yet  arisen 
in  the  New  Testament  Church,  James  was  plainly, 

1  Acts  xii.  2  Qai.  i.  19.  3  Gal.  ii.  9. 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  171 

and  beyond  all  manner  of  doubt,  the  presiding 
officer  of  this  first  recorded  Apostolic  Council.^ 
The  question  now  arises,  Who  was  James  of  Jeru- 
salem ?  For  centuries  it  has  been  held,  almost  by 
common  consent,  that  he  was  one  of  the  original 
twelve  Apostles.^  Notwithstanding  this  popular 
and  prevalent  idea,  there  have  been  from  time 
immemorial  the  following  grave  and  really  inex- 
plicable difficulties  connected  with  this  supposition. 
First,  our  Lord  gave  to  the  original  Twelve  the 
plain,  distinct  commission  and  command  to  go  and 
"make  disciples  of  all  nations;"^  to  go  "into  all 
the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  whole  crea- 
tion;"* to  go  and  be  "witnesses  unto  Him,  both 
in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judaea,  and  in  Samaria,  and 
to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth. "  ^  It  is  very  hard 
to  understand  how,  in  the  face  of  these  solemn 
charges,  the  Apostles  should  have  detached  and  ap- 
pointed one  of  their  own  number  to  reside  exclu- 
sively at  Jerusalem  and  spend  his  whole  life  in 
having  a  local  superintendence  over  the  churches 
at  that  place.  Secondly,  James  of  Jerusalem,  as  all 
the  records  show,  was  "James,  the  brother  of  our 
Lord."  Even  St.  Paul  calls  him  by  this  distinctive 
title. ^  But  how  could  James  the  son  of  AlpJieiis  be 
the   same  as  James  the   Lord's  brother.?     To  meet 

1  Acts  XV.  19. 

'^  There  were  two  apostles  who  bore  the  name  of  James  (St.  Matt. 
X.  2,  3;  St.  Luke  vi.  14,  15),  namely,  James  the  brother  of  John,  the 
son  of  Zebedee,  who  had  been  killed  by  Herod  with  the  sword,  and 
James  "the  Little"  (St.  Mark  xv.  40,  R.  V.),  the  son  of  Alpheus 
and  the  brother  of  Jude  and  Joses. 

3  St.  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  R.  V.  5  Acts  i.  8. 

*  St.  Mark  xvi.  15,  R.  V.  6  Gal.  i.  19. 


172  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

this  difficulty,  a  plausible  suggestion  of  St.  Je- 
rome has  been  adopted,  that  Alpheus  or  Cleophas 
married  a  sister  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  was  also 
named  Mary,  and  that  their  sons,  who  under  such 
a  supposition  were  really  the  cousins  of  our  Lord, 
were  called  in  the  New  Testament  His  brothers. 

Bishop  Lightfoot,  in  his  masterly  essay  on  "The 
Brethren  of  our  Lord,"  has  proved  conclusively  that 
this  novel  opinion  of  St.  Jerome,  first  put  forth 
three  hundred  years  after  the  Crucifixion,  is  unten- 
able, and  that  the  older  traditional  view  of  the 
primitive  Church  —  namely,  that  James  and  Joses, 
Simon  and  Jude,  were  the  sons  of  Joseph  by  a  former 
wife  —  is  the  simplest  and  only  defensible  interpre- 
tation of  New  Testament  statements  about  "the 
brethren"  of  Christ.  James,  the  Lord's  brother, 
was  not,  therefore,  one  of  the  twelve  Apostles.  As 
late  as  the  autumn  before  the  Crucifixion,  he  stood 
among  those  who  did  not  believe  in  Him.^  But 
his  conversion  came  with  the  events  of  the  Pas- 
sion or  the  Crucifixion ;  and  after  the  Resurrection, 
St.  Paul  tells  us  that  the  Risen  Christ  appeared 
specially  to  St.  James,  who  became  a  prominent 
figure  in  the  New  Testament  Church.  This  solves 
for  us  the  difficulty  of  supposing  that  one  of  the 
twelve  Apostles  had  been  appointed  to  a  local 
supervision  over  the  Church  at  Jerusalem. 

We  have  noted  how  the  different  orders  of  the 
ministry  were  developed  out  of  the  Apostolate;  how 
the  twelve  Apostles  first  resigned  the  least  important 
part  of  their  work  to  an  Order  of  Deacons;  how,  at 
a   later   period,    they   committed    other    and    more 

1  St.  John  vii.  3-5. 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  I  73 

spiritual  functions  to  an  Order  of  Elders;  but  they 
did  not  stop  there.  The  extension  of  the  ministry 
was  more  rapid  and  went  further,  even  in  those 
early  days,  than  is  generally  supposed.  It  is  shown 
conclusively  in  the  Book  of  Acts  that  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem  included  a  chief 
pastor  or  presiding  officer,  who,  while  not  one  of 
the  twelve  Apostles,  was  yet  somewhat  different  in 
position  from  the  elders  and  deacons,  and  who  there- 
fore occupied  an  intermediate  position  between  them 
and  the  twelve  Apostles.  Indeed,  St.  Paul  even  goes 
so  far  as  to  call  him  "an  apostle"^  not  in  the 
sense  of  classing  him  with  the  original  ''Twelve," 
but  according  to  the  more  general  use  of  the  term 
that  was  then  prevalent.  ^  James  was  only  an 
Apostle  in  the  sense  that  Barnabas,  Silas,  Epaphro- 
ditus  and  others  were  Apostles. 

We  would  call  close  attention  to  this  fact, 
because,  since  the  days  of  the  Reformation,  the 
statement  has  been  unceasingly  made,  and  reiterated 
and  accepted  by  thousands,  that  Episcopacy  was  an 
after  development  of  Church  history,  and  that  there 
is  no  clear  and  positive  indication  in  the  pages  of 
the  New  Testament  itself,  either  of  its  origin  under 
the  Apostles  or  of  its  existence  in  their  day;  and 
that  consequently  the  Order  of  Bishops  cannot  be 
traced  back  in  any  way  to  their  sanction  and 
authority. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  find  here,  in  the  forefront 
of  the  New  Testament,  before  the  whole  Church  of 
Christ  had  been  in  existence  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury,  a  chief  pastor,   chosen  either  directly  by  the 

1  Gal.  i.  19.  '^  Acts  xiv.  14;  Phil.  ii.  25,  margin,  etc. 


174  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

twelve  Apostles,  or  with  their  express  sanction,  to 
act  under  them  as  the  presiding  officer  over  the 
Church  of  Jerusalem.  That  person  was  James,  the 
brother  of  our  Lord,  revered  by  all  about  him  as 
one  to  whom  Christ  had  specially  appeared  after 
His  Resurrection. 

It  may  therefore  be  truly  said  that  James  of  Jeru- 
salem occupies  the  unique  position  of  the  first  bishop 
in  the  Church  of  Christ.  For  though  He  was  not,  of 
course,  a  "  Diocesan  Bishop"  in  our  modern  sense; 
though,  from  his  intimate  connection  with  all  the 
events  of  the  Gospel  history  and  his  peculiar  personal 
relationship  both  to  our  Lord  and  the  twelve  Apos- 
tles, he  held  a  different  position  from  all  other 
bishops  of  the  Church ;  and  though,  at  that  very 
early  period,  it  would  be  a  gross  anachronism  to 
suppose  that  the  growth  of  the  Church,  even  in  Jeru- 
salem itself,  had  begun  to  reach  that  stage  of  devel- 
opment which  was  known  in  later  days  as  Diocesan 
Organization,  we  cannot,  on  the  other  hand,  ignore 
the  fact  that  the  same  principle  of  development 
and  extension  of  the  ministry  which  led  the  twelve 
Apostles  first  to  commit  certain  functions  of  their 
ministry  to  an  Order  of  Deacons,  and  then  other 
and  greater  functions  to  a  second  Order  of  Elders, 
led  them  also  to  commit  a  still  more  important 
function  —  the  superintendence  over  these  different 
Elders  and  Deacons  and  congregations  in  the  local 
Church  of  Jerusalem  to  so  wise  and  revered  a  fol- 
lower of  Christ  as  James,  the  brother  of  our  Lord ; 
leaving  him  to  fulfil  this  responsibility,  while  the 
Twelve  gave  themselves  "continually  to  prayer  and 
to   the   ministry   of   the   word,"   and   obeyed    their 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  I  75 

Lord's  parting  command  "to  be  witnesses  unto  Him 
in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judcea,  and  in  Samaria,  and 
unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth. " 

There  are  two  classes  of  objections  which  might 
be  raised  against  this  statement  that  James  of  Jeru- 
salem was,  even  in  this  inchoate  sense,  the  first 
bishop  in  the  Church  of  God.  On  the  one  hand, 
some  will  say  that  he  was  an  Apostle  similar  to  all 
the  other  Apostles.  On  the  other  hand,  others, 
taking  the  opposite  view,  will  affirm  that  he  was 
only  a  presiding  elder,  who,  though  he  occupied  a 
position  of  authority  similar  to  that  of  a  bishop, 
yet  never,  as  far  as  the  records  show,  exercised  the 
ordinary  episcopal  function  of  ordaining  elders,  and 
thus  transmitting  authority  in  Apostolic  Succession. 
Let  us  take  these  objections  in  order. 

(i)  James  of  Jerusalem  was  not  one  of  the  origi- 
nal twelve;  though  the  Risen  Christ  appeared  to  him 
especially,  neither  did  he  nor  others  put  forth  the 
claim  so  strenuously  advanced  by  St.  Paul  regarding 
his  own  mission,  of  being  specially  chosen  and  sent 
by  Christ  to  do  an  apostolic  work  similar  to  that 
of  the  twelve.  It  was  the  function  of  the  twelve 
and  of  St.  Paul  himself  to  go  into  all  the  world 
and  found  churches  everywhere,  but  St.  James  was 
anchored  at  Jerusalem,  and  his  personal  responsi- 
bility consisted  in  having  the  oversight  and  care  of 
that  one  particular  church.  These  are  primary  con- 
siderations, and  they  differentiate  James  the  Just  of 
Jerusalem  from  the  original  twelve  and  St.  Paul. 
He  clearly  occupied  a  secondary  position. 

(2)  In  answer  to  the  other  objection,  that  he  was 
only   a   presiding   elder,    who    never   exercised   the 


176  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

functions  of  the  Apostolate  in  the  transmission  of 
orders,  we  would  say  that  he  was  plainly  reckoned 
as  different  from  the  elders.  In  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  St.  Paul  tells  us  that  the  first  time  he 
went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  see  St.  Peter,  and  abode 
with  him  fifteen  days,  he  adds,  *'But  other  of  the 
Apostles  saw  I  none  save  James,  the  Lord's  brother."^ 
When  he  went  up  to  Jerusalem  again,  fourteen  years 
after  taking  Barnabas  and  Titus  with  him,  he  tells 
us  that  ^^\v\\Qn  James,  Cephas,  and  John,  who  seemed 
to  be  pillars,  perceived  the  grace  that  was  given  to 
me,  they  gave  unto  me  and  Barnabas  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship,  that  we  should  go  to  the  heathen  and 
they  unto  the  circumcision."  ^  In  the  history  of  the 
Council  of  the  Apostles  at  Jerusalem,  five  times  the 
phrase  "Apostles  and  Elders"  is  used;^  these  and 
these  only  are  the  two  Orders  of  the  Ministry  named. 
Is  it  possible,  after  we  read  what  St.  Paul  had  pre- 
viously said  of  James,  that  he  could  have  been  reck- 
oned among  the  elders  or  even  as  a  presiding  elder.? 
Though  there  is  no  direct  reference  to  his  exercising 
the  function  of  ordaining  elders,  we  can  hardly 
imagine  that  he  who  was  called  "an  apostle"  by 
St.  Paul  and  reckoned  by  him  as  a  "pillar"  of  the 
church  with  SS.  Peter  and  John,  should  not  have 
had  this  apostolic  privilege  committed  to  him ;  and 
the  implication  becomes  certainty  when  we  remember 
that  Barnabas,  who  was  also  called  "an  apostle,"* 
ordained  elders  when  he  accompanied  St.  Paul  on  his 
first  missionary  tour.^ 

1  Gal.  i.  19.  ^  Acts  XV.  2,  4,  6,  22,  23;  xvi.  4. 

2  Gal.  ii.  9.  ^  Acts  xiv.  14. 

^  Acts  xiv.  23. 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  I  77 

But  the  case  is  set  completely  at  rest  when  we 
turn  to  the  pages  of  Church  history,  for  Chrysostom,"i 
Hegesippus,  Eusebius,  and  others,  who  lived  in  the 
days  of  fully  matured  diocesan  Episcopacy,  are 
unanimous  in  stating  that  James  the  Just  was  the 
first  Bishop  of  Jerusalem. 

While,  therefore,  we  repeat,  he  was  not  a  diocesan 
bishop,  like  those  of  post-apostolic  days,  James  of 
Jerusalem  was  the  prototypal  bishop;  for  the  organ- 
ization of  the  mother  Church  at  Jerusalem,  with  its 
Deacons,  its  Elders,  and  its  chief  Pastor;  with  its 
normal  growth,  and  development  under  the  influence 
and  direction  of  the  Apostles  themselves  before 
they  separated  to  go  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth,  became,  in  process  of  time,  the  example  and 
pattern  that  was  followed  elsewhere. 

Forty  years  after  Christ's  Ascension,  Jerusalem 
was  destroyed  by  the  Roman  armies  under  Titus ; 
the  Jewish  nation  was  scattered  or  carried  into 
captivity  to  Rome;  while  Christians,  heedful  of  our 
Lord's  prophecy  and  warning,^  fled  to  the  mountains 
and  escaped. 

Shortly  after  this  we  find  the  Apostle  St.  John 
dwelling  for  a  season,  as  St.  Paul  had  done  before 
him, 2  in  Ephesus.  Heretofore,  as  far  as  the  records 
show,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  had  been  the  most 
prominent  leaders  in  the  Church  of  Christ;  now, 
St.  John  stood  forth  as  the  aged  patriarch,  probably 
as  the  last  survivor  of  the  original  twelve,  to  whom 
the  rising  generation  of  Christians  should  look  for 
guidance  and  organization  in  that  part  of  the  Gentile 
world  where  St.  Paul  had  labored  a  third  of  a  cen- 

1  St.  Matt.  xxiv.  16.  '^  Acts  xix.  8-10. 


178  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

tury  before.  He  carried  with  him  to  Ephesus  the 
knowledge  and  matured  experience  that  he  had 
gained  from  the  organization  of  the  mother  Church 
of  Jerusalem,  with  whose  history,  before  the  fall  of 
the  city,  he  had  become  so  familiar;  and  now  he 
brought  that  experience  to  bear  upon  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  churches  in  Asia  Minor  and  its  vicinity, 
adapting  it  to  the  different  conditions  of  life  that 
he  found  there. 

For  the  next  generation  and  even  later  "St.  John's 
disciples  are  the  leading  figures  of  the  post-apostolic 
period;  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor  occupy  in  influ- 
ence and  example  the  place  that  the  mother  Church 
of  Jerusalem  once  held,  and  everywhere  the  mould- 
ing impress  of  St.  John's  mind  and  hand  are  trace-" 
able  in  their  life  and  organization.^ 

1  The  following  extracts  from  Bishop  Lightfoot's  writings  may  be 
quoted  here:  — 

"  Unless  we  have  recourse  to  a  sweeping  condemnation  of  received 
documents,  it  seems  vain  to  deny  that  early  in  the  second  century  the 
episcopal  office  was  firmly  and  widely  established.  Thus,  during  the 
last  three  decades  of  the  first  century,  and  consequently  during 
the  lifetime  of  the  latest  surviving  Apostle,  this  change  must  have 
been  brought  about." 

"The  evidence  for  the  early  and  wide  extension  of  episcopacy, 
throughout  pro-consular  Asia,  the  scene  of  St.  John's  latest  labors, 
may  be  considered  irrefragable." 

"  But  these  notices,  besides  establishing  the  general  prevalence  of 
episcopacy,  also  throw  considerable  light  on  its  origin.  .  .  .  Above 
all,  they  establish  this  result  clearly,  that  its  maturer  forms  are  seen 
first  in  those  regions  where  the  latest  surviving  Apostles  (more  espe- 
cially St.  John)  fixed  their  abode,  and  at  a  time  when  its  prevalence 
cannot  be  dissociated  from  their  influence  or  their  sanction." 

"It  has  been  seen  that  the  institution  of  an  episcopate  must  be 
placed  as  far  back  as  the  closing  years  of  the  first  century,  and  that  it 
cannot,  without  violence  to  historical  testimony,  be  dissociated  from 
the  name  of  St.  John." 

•'  If  the  preceding  investigation  be  substantially  correct,  the  three- 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  I  79 

There  is  another  point  regarding  the  condition  of 
the  ministry  in  the  apostolic  age  that  should  be  care- 
fully noted=  In  answer  to  the  objection  that  the 
episcopate  was  an  after  development  from  the  pres- 
byterate,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  development  was 
in  an  entirely  different  direction.  It  was  not  from 
the  diaconate  upward,  but  from  the  Apostolate  dozvn- 
zvard.  Each  order  arose  only  when  the  need  for  it 
became  manifest.  The  need  for  the  episcopate  had 
not  as  yet  arisen,  in  its  fulness,  in  the  day  when  the 
greater  part  of  the  Books  of  the  New  Testament  were 
written.  Only  in  Jerusalem,  where  the  Church  had 
reached  its  fullest  development,  was  it  felt.  And 
there,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  at  once  provided  for, 
by  placing  St.  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  in  a 
prominent  position  of  responsibility  in  the  mother 
Church.  Elsewhere,  the  scattered  churches  in  Judoea 
and  among  the  Gentiles  were  still  under  the  care 
of  the  Apostles  themselves.  St.  Paul  tells  us  this 
regarding  the  churches  of  his  own  planting,  when 
he  said  that  he  had  to  bear,  beside  those  trials 
and  hardships  that  came  to  him  from  outer  sources 
and  missionary  efforts,  another  special  work  in  the 
matter  of  internal  organization  and  discipline  :  "  That 
which  Cometh  upon  me  daily,  the  care  of  all  the 
churches."^  If  it  is  true  that  he  mentions  only 
Deacons  and  Bishops  (or  Elders)  in   his    Epistles, 

fold  ministry  can  be  traced  to  Apostolic  direction ;  and  short  of  an 
express  statement,  we  can  possess  no  better  assurance  of  a  Divine  ap- 
pointment or  at  least  a  Divine  sanction.  If  the  facts  do  not  allow 
us  to  unchurch  other  Christian  communities  differently  organized, 
they  may  at  least  justify  our  jealous  adhesion  to  a  polity  derived  from 
this  source^  —  Dissertations  on  the  Apostolic  Age,  pp.  241,  242. 
1  2  Cor.  xi.  28. 


l8o  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

it  is  also  true  that  he  himself  was,  at  this  time, 
exercising  over  them  both  an  apostolic  and  an  epis- 
copal supervision,  and  that  here,  as  well  as  in  other 
parts  of  the  New  Testament,  an  organization  repre- 
sented only  by  Elders  and  Deacons  was  regarded 
as  incomplete.  And  this  fact  comes  out  even  more 
strongly  in  the  pastoral  Epistles,  when  "  Paul  the 
aged,"  who  through  infirmities  and  imprisonments 
was  no  longer  able  to  have  the  care  of  all  the 
churches,  gave  to  Timothy  directions  concerning 
Elders  (or  Bishops)  and  Deacons,^  and  said  to 
Titus,  "For  this  cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete,  that  thou 
shouldst  set  in  order  the  things  that  are  wanting, 
and  ordain  Elders  in  every  city,  as  I  had  appointed 
thee.  "2 

It  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  any  further  this  branch 
of  our  subject,  for,  as  the  genuineness  of  the  Epistles 
of  St.  Ignatius,  through  the  efforts  of  Bishop  Light- 
foot,  has  been  proved  and  accepted,  the  existence  of 
the  Episcopate  in  the  post-apostolic  age  becomes  one 
of  the  known  facts  of  church  history.  After  the 
days  of  Irenaeus,  its  historicity  has  always  been 
acknowledged. 

II 

But  however  strong  the  actual  proof  of  an  Apos- 
tolic Succession  of  bishops  may  be,  there  is  an- 
other issue  lying  back  of  all  ministerial  succession, 
whether  Episcopal  or  Presbyterial,  that  perplexes 
many  minds.  On  what  principle,  it  is  often  asked, 
does   this   ministerial    succession    itself    rest.?    and 

1  I  Tim.  iii.  '^  Titus  i.  c 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  l8l 

where  is  the  authority  for  an  institution  in  the 
Church  which  is  not  only  self-perpetuating,  but  which 
creates  a  distinction  between  clergy  and  people  that 
will  continue  to  exist  until  the  end  of  time?  Not 
infrequently  the  secret  dislike  to  such  a  distinction 
creates  a  prepossession  in  many  minds  which  pre- 
cludes them  from  recognizing,  or  giving  due  weight 
to,  the  fact  that  the  distinction  was  created  by 
Christ  Himself  when  He  selected  the  twelve  Apostles 
from  the  rest  of  His  disciples,  before  He  left  this 
earth.  And  there  are  three  points  in  the  commis- 
sion which  Christ  gave  to  these  Apostles  which  we 
should  carefully  note. 

First,  the  commission  was  full  and  explicit.  "Ye 
have  not  chosen  Me,  but  I  have  chosen  you,  and 
ordained  [appointed]  you. "  "  As  My  Father  hath 
sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you." 

Secondly,  it  was  not  merely  a  charge  to  go  into 
all  the  world  and  exercise  a  personal,  moral,  and 
spiritual  influence  among  men;  it  was  a  commission 
to  go  and  do  certain  specific  acts ;  to  teach,  to  bap- 
tize, to  administer  the  Holy  Communion  (*'Dothis 
in  remembrance  of  Me"),  to  be  witnesses  of  His 
Resurrection,   to  remit  and  retain  sins. 

Thirdly,  it  was  an  authority  that  was  to  continue 
with  these  chosen  ministers.  Christ  promised  to 
be  with  them  as  they  went  forth  to  perform  these 
acts  of  teaching,  baptizing,  etc.,  "/^,  ahvay,  even  iinto 
the  end  of  the  world. " 

In  the  commencement  of  the  Book  of  Acts,  within 
ten  days  after  Christ's  Ascension,  we  read  that 
the  first  act  of  the  Apostles  was  to  transmit  the 
authority  which    Christ  had  given  them  to  a  new 


1 82  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Apostle.  The  election  of  St.  Matthias  shows  the 
light  in  which  the  Apostles,  at  that  time,  regarded 
the  commission  they  had  received  from  Christ. 
They  felt  that  they  were  authorized  by  Christ  to 
select  an  Apostle  to  take  the  place  of  the  apostate 
Judas,  and  thus  to  transmit  to  another  the  authority 
Christ  had  transmitted  to  them.  Afterwards,  in 
the  same  Book  of  Acts,  it  is  recorded  how  they 
transmitted  certain  portions  of  this  authority  to 
others  still ;  and  in  the  Epistles  we  hear  of  yet  later 
transmissions. 

For  example,  when  in  St.  Paul's  directions  to 
Timothy  and  Titus  to  ordain  elders,  and  lay  hands 
upon  ministers  whom  the  Apostles  themselves  did. 
not  select,  we  find  most  unmistakably  that  the  per- 
sons to  whom  the  Apostles  transmitted  authority 
were  in  turn  not  only  empowered  to  transmit  that 
authority  to  others,  but  were  in  fact  directed  to  do 
so.  Indeed,  the  only  ministry  of  which  we  read  in 
the  New  Testament  is  that  which  was  developed  out 
of  the  apostolate  by  the  Apostles  themselves.  No 
one  at  that  time  is  recorded  as  exercising  spiritual 
authority  or  jurisdiction  in  the  Church,  save  by  their 
appointment. 

It  is,  therefore,  from  the  New  Testament  itself 
that  we  first  learn  the  principle  of  the  transmission 
of  authority  and  of  ministerial  succession.  It  was 
first  adopted  by  the  Apostles  themselves,  through 
the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  was  universally 
accepted  by  the  Church,  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles, 
without  a  question.  An  Apostolic  Ministry  was  the 
only  ministry  that  was  known,  or  even  thought  of, 
in  New  Testament  times.     More   than   this,    it    is 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  1 83 

implicitly  taken  for  granted  throughout  the  apos- 
tolic Epistles,  that  apostolic  order,  apostolic  fellow- 
ship, apostolic  doctrine  were  essential  conditions 
of  Church  unity.  And  when  we  pass  on  to  the  next 
generation,  we  find  that  what  was  thus  implicitly 
held,  when  St.  John  and  St.  Paul  were  still  alive, 
was  explicitly  taught  by  the  disciple  of  St.  John, 
Ignatius  of  Antioch,   and  his  contemporaries. 

For  fifteen  hundred  years  thereafter,  amid  all 
the  heresies  and  differences  of  opinion  in  the 
Church  upon  other  matters,  there  was  an  un- 
divided opinion  and  unanimous  consensus  in  the 
Church  regarding  the  principle  of  transmitted  min- 
isterial authority.  Under  such  circumstances  we 
may  reasonably  and  in  all  charity  ask,  would  this 
difficulty  regarding  transmitted  authority  ever  have 
arisen  to  perplex  Christian  minds  in  the  last  three 
centuries,  had  there  not  been  some  anterior  bias, 
prepossession,  or  prejudice  to  create  it.?  If  dif- 
ferent Christian  bodies  since  the  Reformation  had 
not  organized  a  ministry  of  their  own,  which  stands 
apart  from  a  ministry  that  historically  derives  its 
succession  from  the  Apostles,  would  this  question 
ever  have  been  raised.? 

Now  that  it  has  been  raised,  we  should  never  for- 
get that  there  are  two  classes  of  difficulties  regard- 
ing the  principle  of  ministerial  succession.  If,  on 
the  one  hand,  there  are  Christians  who  keep  asking 
why  the  Church  has  not  a  right  to  constitute  its 
own  ministry,  or  why  there  should  be  such  a 
division  between  clergy  and  laity  as  the  doctrine 
of  ministerial  succession  creates  and  perpetuates, 
there  are,  on  the  other  hand,  a  far  larger  number  of 


184  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Christians  who  ask,  Has  the  Church  the  authority 
to  organize  any  different  kind  of  ministry,  since 
Christ  Himself  has  divided  the  ministry  from  the 
people  by  choosing  the  twelve  Apostles,  and  since 
those  Apostles  have  provided  for  the  extension  and 
continuance  of  that  ministry?  Has  she  the  power 
to  originate,  at  any  period  of  her  history,  a  new 
order  of  bishops,  priests,  or  deacons?  If  so,  what 
credentials  has  she  to  show,  either  from  our  Lord  or 
His  chosen  Apostles?  or  what  precedent  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church,  for  the  first  fifteen  hundred  years, 
authorizing  such  a  departure  from  New  Testament 
method? 

Since  the  days  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  the 
heavy  charge  has  been  made  again  and  again  that 
the  doctrine  of  Apostolical  Succession  is  an  unwar- 
rantable and  unscriptural  assumption.  In  reply  to 
this  we  ask  again,  in  all  charity,  but  for  the  sake  of 
truth  and  real  Christian  unity,  is  it  not,  in  reality, 
a  Diore  unwarrantable  and  unscriptural  assumption 
to  assert  that  the  Church  has  the  delegated  author- 
ity from  Christ  to  set  up  and  originate  a  ministry  of 
her  own?  Is  not  this  claiming  for  the  Church  a 
power  which  has  never  been  bestowed  upon  her?  Is 
it  not  an  effort  to  exaggerate  the  authority  of  the 
Church  beyond  its  proper  limits?  Is  it  not,  in  fact, 
putting  the  Church  in  the  place  of  Christ  ? 

And  when,  in  addition  to  this,  we  remember  that 
such  a  plea  was  never  set  forth  until  the  Church  of 
Christ  had  been  in  existence  for  centuries ;  when  we 
remember  that  in  the  whole  of  the  intervening  time 
between  the  Apostles  and  the  Protestant  Reformation 
of  the  sixteenth  century  —  from  Ignatius  of  Antioch, 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  1 85 

the  disciple  of  St.  John,  and  Clement  of  Rome,  the 
disciple  of  St.  Paul  or  of  St.  Peter,  to  Luther, 
Calvin,  and  Cranmer — the  organization  of  the  One 
Holy,  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  throughout  the 
world  was  founded  upon  the  belief  in  a  ministry 
deriving  its  authority  and  succession  through  the 
Apostles  straight  from  Christ  Himself,  then  we  can- 
not but  dismiss  this  other  assumption  as  novel 
and  unauthorized.  "Whether  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons  are  or  are  not  scriptural  or  exclusive  orders 
of  ministry  is,  on  its  own  grounds,  fair  matter  for 
argument ;  but  antecedently  to  any  such  argument,  I 
must  submit  that  the  principle  in  abstract  form  — 
that  ministerial  authority  depends  upon  continuous 
transmission  from  the  Apostles,  through  those  to 
whom  the  Apostles  transmitted  the  power  to  trans- 
mit —  must  be  recognized  as  being  from  the  time  of 
St.  Clement  onwards  a  principle  implanted  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  Christian  Church."^ 

The  preface  to  the  Ordinal  in  the  Anglican 
Prayer  Book  is,  therefore,  strictly  in  the  line  of 
scriptural  and  historical  precedent,  when  it  says 
that  "  It  is  evident  unto  all  men  diligently  reading 
Holy  Scripture  and  ancient  Authors,  that  from  the 
Apostles'  time  there  have  been  these  orders  of  min- 
isters in  Christ's  Church,  —  Bishops,  Priests,  and 
Deacons.  Which  Offices  were  evermore  had  in  such 
reverend  estimation,  that  no  man  might  presume  to 
execute  any  of  them,  except  he  were  first  called, 
tried,  examined,  and  known  to  have  such  qualities 
as  are  requisite  for  the  same;  and  also,  by  public 
Prayer,   with   Imposition   of    Hands,   were  approved 

1  "Ministerial  Priesthood,"  by  Canon  Moberly,  pp.  115,  116. 


l86  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

and  admitted  thereunto  by  lawful  Authority."  And 
the  same  Ordinal  is  a  witness  to  the  Catholic 
Faith,  where  it  declares  its  intentioft  that  these 
orders  should  be  'Continued''  by  her. 


Ill 

Canon  Moberly  has  well  said,  in  the  passage  we 
have  quoted,  that  ministerial  succession  is  "a  prin- 
ciple implanted  in  the  consciousness  of  the  Christian 
Church."  This  means  that  it  is  something  more 
than  an  ecclesiastical  tradition  or  a  shibboleth  of 
partizanship.  Whatever  is  able  to  penetrate  into 
the  consciousness  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  pre- 
serve its  continuity  from  age  to  age,  must  have  a 
spiritual  worth  and  a  moral  power  to  create  religious 
conviction,  • — •  the  kind  of  conviction  that  men  are 
willing  to  die  for. 

The  doctrine  of  Apostolic  Succession  has  this 
moral  and  spiritual  force.  First,  because  it  carries 
out  the  basal  idea  of  the  Incarnation  and  applies  it 
to  the  ministry  of  the  Christian  Church.  As  in 
the  Incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ,  Heaven  and  earth, 
divine  and  human,  invisible  and  visible,  subjective 
and  objective,  infinite  and  finite,  inward  and  out- 
ward, are  united  together  in  one;  as  in  the  life  of 
Christ  Himself,  in  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  in 
the  two  sacraments  which  Christ  has  ordained,  and 
in  the  written  Word  of  God,  there  are  two  elements, 
—  the  one  of  Heaven  and  the  other  of  earth,  the  one 
spiritual  and  the  other  natural,  the  one  divine  and 
the  other  human,  —  so,  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Succession  there   is   both   an   inward  call   of 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  1 87 

God's  Spirit  and  the  outward  form  of  laying  on  of 
hands  in  Apostolic  Ordination. 

.  Secondly,  this  same  doctrine  creates  in  the  breasts 
of  those  who  are  thus  ordained  that  peculiar  kind  of 
moral  conviction  which  was  expressed  by  St.  Paul 
when,  in  writing  to  the  Galatians,  who  were  choos- 
ing religious  teachers  of  their  own,  he  called  him- 
self an  Apostle,  '*  not  of  man,  neither  by  man,  but 
by  Jesus  Christ  and  God  the  Father,  who  raised 
Him  from  the  dead,"  ^  and  said  to  the  Corinthians, 
"  With  me  it  is  a  very  small  thing  that  I  should  be 
judged  of  you  or  of  man's  judgement.  Yea,  I  judge 
not  mine  own  self,  .  .  .  but  he  that  judgeth  me  is 
the  Lord.  "2 

Those  who  feel  that  they  are  both  inwardly  called 
by  God's  Holy  Spirit,  and  outwardly  consecrated  to 
the  sacred  Ministry  by  an  authority  which  is  derived 
by  a  chain  of  outward,  visible,  historic  acts  directly 
from  the  Apostles  and  from  Christ  Himself,  have 
a  much  higher  ideal  of  that  Ministry  than  would 
be  possible  had  they  merely  been  admitted  to  it  by 
an  ordinance  which  the  Church  had  originated  for 
herself  in  post-apostolic  times.  For  in  the  latter 
case,  ordination  means  only  authority  conferred  by 
the  Church.  And  as  the  stream  cannot  rise  higher 
than  its  fountain  head,  the  ordained  minister  would; 
in  his  allegiance,  look  to  no  higher  outward  author- 
ity than  that  of  the  particular  branch  of  the  Church 
which,  at  some  given  historic  period,  instituted  the 
ministry  to  which  he  has  been  appointed  by  her. 

While  in  his  personal  loyalty  to  Christ  he  might 
be  unfaltering  in  his  efforts,  individually,  to  live  an 

1  Gal.  i.  I.  2  I  Cor.  iv.  3,  4. 


155  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

earnest  Christian  life,  he  would  not,  and  could  not, 
feel  the  same  kind  of  allegiance  to  the  Church 
regarding  the  official  acts  of  his  ministerial  career. 
In  his  innermost  thought  he  would  differentiate 
between  the  authority  of  the  Church  and  the  author- 
ity of  Christ  Himself.  And  that  distinction  would 
lower  the  whole  conception  of  the  value  of  the  sacra- 
ments and  of  his  ministerial  acts.  The  church,  the 
people,  the  congregation  whom  he  served,  would 
have  an  abnormal  place  in  his  thoughts  and  motives; 
an  abnormal  power  over  his  ministry. 

But  if  one  holds  the  deep  conviction  that  through 
a  ministerial  succession  in  the  Apostolic  Church 
he  traces  his  Orders  as  Bishop,  Priest,  or  Deacon, 
straight  back  to  Christ,  that  conviction  creates  a 
solemn,  awful  consciousness  of  the  responsibility 
that  he  owes  directly  to  the  Head  of  the  Church  in 
Heaven.  And  the  longer  he  lives,  the  deeper 
becomes  his  realization  of  the  sacredness  of  his 
office.  Woe  be  to  him  if  he  is  neglectful  of  his 
charge,  or  unfaithful  to  his  stewardship.  It  is  Christ 
the  Judge  Who  will  call  him  to  account  for  his 
sin  at  the  Judgement  Day.  It  is  the  indwelling 
Spirit  of  Truth  Who  will  then  bear  witness  against 
him. 

He  is  appointed  by  Christ  to  be  a  Messenger  of 
Heaven,  a  Watchman  of  Souls,  a  Steward  of  the 
Mysteries  of  God. 
\  Belief  in  the  Apostolic  Succession  gives  him  cour- 
age. He  is  spurred  on,  regardless  of  discourage- 
ment, unpopularity,  or  natural  human  timidity,  to 
speak  the  Truth  of  God  to  human  hearts.  He  dares 
not  falter.      He  becomes  instant  in  season  and  out 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  1 89 

of  season,  whether  they  will  hear  or  whether  they 
will  forbear. 

Thirdly,  that  same  belief  has  the  moral  effect  of 
deepening  the  sense  of  responsibility  in  teaching,  — 
teaching  nothing  but  Aposto/ic  Doctrine  and  Bible 
Truth.  When  a  man  realizes  that  he  is  ordained  to 
be  a  witness  for  Christ,  that  his  office  is  not  only  a 
public  trust  but  a  Divine  trust,  that  he  has  been 
trusted  by  Christ  and  His  Church  and  placed  in  the 
official  position  of  a  recognized  teacher  in  the  Apos- 
tolic Church,  that  realization,  in  proportion  to  its  in- 
tensity, restrains  his  individualism  and  checks  each 
intemperate  utterance.  He  dare  not  betray  a  trust, 
especially  in  so  vital  a  matter  as  in  teaching  im- 
mortal souls  for  whom  Christ  died;  nor  does  he  dare 
to  preach  any  other  doctrine  than  that  the  Apostles 
themselves  preached,  or  which  may  not  be  certainly 
proved  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

The  fact  that  there  may  be  few  who  follow  this 
apostolic  ideal  out  of  the  thousands  of  ordained  min- 
isters, is  no  more  an  argument  against  Apostolic 
Succession  than  that  there  are  so  few  Christians 
whose  lives  correspond  with  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  is  an  argument  against  Christianity.  There 
was  a  Judas  Iscariot  even  among  the  twelve  Apostles. 
It  is  enough  for  us  if  the  ideal  itself  touches  the 
deep  moral  convictions  of  our  nature,  if  it  corre- 
sponds with  the  spirit  of  Christ's  religion  and  with 
what  we  read  in  the  New  Testament.  With  all  the 
shortcomings  of  the  clergy  in  these  and  other  times, 
the  history  of  the  Church  shows  that  this  ideal  has 
exerted  a  very  marked  influence  over  the  ministry 
at  large  of  the  old  historic  Churches,  and  that  it  has 


190         NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

evoked  a  deep  moral  sense  of  their  responsibility 
regarding  their  ministerial  duties  which,  without 
it,   they  would  never  have  had. 

Fourthly,  if  in  New  Testament  days  it  was  un- 
ceasingly taught  that  the  unity  of  that  Church  of 
Christ  which  was  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the 
Apostles  and  Prophets  depended  upon  union  in  doc- 
trine and  fellowship  with  the  Apostles  themselves, 
in  the  post-apostolic  age  it  was  equally  emphasized 
that  visible  unity  depended  upon  union  with  the 
successors  of  the  Apostles.  This  truth  is  strongly 
brought  out  in  the  writings  of  Ignatius,  the  disciple 
of  St.  John.  Indeed,  he  laid  so  much  stress  upon  it, 
that  it  almost  seems  as  though  he  felt  it  to  be  the 
only  safeguard  against  certain  dangers  of  disunion 
that  were  arising  in  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor. 

Since  that  time,  after  eighteen  centuries  of  Chris- 
tian experience,  it  has  been  found  that  the  Historic 
Episcopate  is  absolutely  essential  to  organic  Church 
unity.  Instead  of  being,  as  so  often  represented,  an 
impediment  to  the  reunion  of  Christendom,  it  is 
proved  by  the  facts  of  Church  history  that  there  can 
be  no  outward  and  visible  unity  of  Christ's  Church 
without  it.  This  truth  is  becoming  more  and  more 
explicitly  recognized  as  time  goes  on.  Yet  it  has 
been  implicitly  held,  as  through  a  Catholic  in- 
stinct, for  ages,  and  this  is  shown  by  the  very 
names  by  which  the  Church  has  always  designated 
or  described  her  characteristic  ministry. 

"Historic  Episcopate"  is  a  modern  term,  and  it 
is  usually  employed  as  a  name  for  an  institution  or 
fact  of  Church  history  which  does  not  commit  us  to 
any  theory  as  to  the  meaning  of  that  fact,  like  the 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  I9I 

phrase  "Apostolic  Succession."  Tliis  older  term, 
however,  is  much  more  profound ;  if  anything,  it  is 
humbler  and  less  assertive,  for  it  does  not  empha- 
size the  Episcopate  at  all.  What  it  does  emphasize 
is  a  lazv  of  continuity  in  the  ministry  of  the  Church 
of  which  the  Historic  Episcopate  is  only  the  out- 
ward and  visible  sign, — the  effect  of  a  cause. 
It  is  the  same  with  the  other  term  by  which  the 
ministry  of  the  Church  has  been  designated  from 
time  immemorial.  Those  holding  these  sacred 
offices  have  been  called  men  in  Holy  Orders,  because 
the  apostolic  ministry  represents  the  principle  of 
order,  and  because  the  Church  has  instinctively 
realized  that  without  such  order  there  can  be  no 
visible  or  organic  unity. 


IV 

We  come  now  to  another  fact  which  should  be 
remembered  as  well  by  those  who  hold  the  doctrine 
of  Apostolic  Succession  as  by  those  who  deny  it. 
In  the  descriptions  of  the  New  Testament  Church 
which  are  given  in  the  writings  of  the  Apostles,  the 
threefold  ministry  of  the  Apostolic  Succession  will 
scarcely  embrace  all  the  ministerial  functions  that 
are  there  named.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  there  are 
apostles,  elders,  and  deacons,  there  are  also,  on 
the  other,  prophets,  evangelists,  workers  of  miracles, 
and  those  who  speak  with  tongues.  But  when  we 
look  closer,  we  observe  that  there  is  a  distinction 
drawn  in  the  New  Testament  between  the  one  and 
the   other,    clearly   indicating   that   while   the   first 


192         NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

are  in  an  authoritative  position  of  responsibility,  the 
others  are  not. 

For  example,  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  are  ad- 
dressed (i)  either  to  the  whole  Church  collectively 
and  to  the  "saints,"  who  are  its  members,  or  (2)  to 
the  ''Bishops  and  Deacons"  with  the  saints,  or  (3)  to 
individual  men  like  Timothy,  Titus,  and  Philemon. 
There  is  no  mention  of  prophets  or  evangelists. 
Similarly,  when  St.  Paul  sends  for  the  Elders  of 
Ephesus  to  come  to  Miletus,  it  is  to  them,  not  to 
prophets  or  evangelists,  that  he  delivers  that  solemn 
charge  to  feed  the  Church  of  God  over  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  had  made  them  overseers.^  And  again 
we  are  told  that,  in  their  first  missionary  journey, 
Paul  and  Barnabas  "ordained"  them  Elders  in  every 
church; 2  we  read  the  directions  given  regarding  the 
life  and  duties  of  Elders  (Bishops)  and  Deacons,^ 
and  the  injunction  given  to  Titus  regarding  the 
ordination  of  Elders. 

And  when  we  pass  to  the  post-apostolic  age,  we 
find  that  the  only  Ministry  that  is  emphasized  as 
authoritative,  and  that  is  recognized  as  continuing 
from  the  apostolic  times,  is  that  of  Bishops,  Priests, 
and  Deacons. 

The  Prophets  and  Evangelists  are  indeed  spoken 
of  in  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament  as  men  who 
occupied  a  higher  position  in  the  Church  than  the 
workers  of  miracles  or  those  who  spake  with  tongues. 
But  through  all,  their  work  was  individual  and 
their  gifts  personal.  No  prophet  ordained  other 
prophets;  no  evangelist  transmitted  authority  to 
other  evangelists. 

1  Acts  XX.  17.  2  Acts  xiv.  23.  ^  i  Tim.  iii;  Titus  i. 


APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION  1 93 

As  we  look  back  upon  the  history  of  the  Church 
through  these  eighteen  centuries,  we  see  plainly, 
unmistakably,  that,  unlike  the  power  of  working 
miracles  or  of  speaking  with  tongues,  these  greater 
prophetic  and  evangelistic  gifts  have  not  ceased. 
We  also  note  that  they  seem  to  be  independent  of 
the  Apostolic  Ministry  itself,  for  sometimes  they  are 
possessed  by  the  ordained  clergy,  sometimes  not. 
Indeed,  we  find  these  functions  possessed  even  by 
those  who  have  no  connection  with  any  ministerial 
office.  They  are  exercised  by  men  raised  up  by  God 
and  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  to  do  a  certain  kind  of 
work  in  certain  periods  of  Christian  history.  Often- 
times these  men  impress  us  deeply,  not  only  by  the 
greatness  of  their  efforts,  but  by  the  saintliness  of 
their  lives  and  examples.  They  give  themselves  up 
to  a  life  of  prayer  and  of  work  in  Christ's  name; 
they  hold  to  and  preach  the  Faith  once  delivered  to 
the  saints  as  it  is  taught  in  Holy  Scriptures,  and  also 
in  the  Catholic  creeds;  they  bring  thousands  and 
ten  thousands  to  Christ,  and  through  their  efforts 
the  peculiar  type  of  character  that  belongs  distinc- 
tively to  Christ's  followers  is  undoubtedly  devel- 
oped. Such  ministers  may  not  have  the  outward 
call  of  Apostolic  Ordination,  but  they  have  unmis- 
takably an  inward  call  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  for  the 
individual  work  that  God  has  raised  them  up  to  do, 
but  without  ministerial  authority  to  transmit  their 
functions.  It  is  also  a  significant  fact  that,  with  a 
few  exceptions,  they  themselves  do  not  profess  to 
exercise  those  functions  of  the  Episcopate  and  of 
the  Priesthood  which  from  the  first  have  been 
associated,   in  the    Catholic  Church,   with  the  idea 

13 


194  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

of  ministerial  succession;  and  perhaps,  by  and  by, 
this  fact  may  prove  to  be,  not  an  obstacle,  but  a 
help  toward  ultimate  Church  unity. 

While,  on  the  one  hand.  Churchmen  hold  that 
Apostolic  Ordination  is  essential  to  episcopal  or 
priestly  acts,  and  are  prone  to  deny  that  outside  of 
these  there  are  any  ministerial  functions ;  non-epis- 
copal bodies,  on  the  other  hand,  hold  that  prophetic 
or  evangelistic  gifts  are  bestowed  upon  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  irrespective  of  Apostolic  Ordination, 
denying  that  there  are  any  higher  ministerial  func- 
tions in  the  Church  of  Christ. 

Both  classes  have  positive  convictions  so  deeply 
rooted  and  so  persistently  continuous  on  these 
points,  as  generation  follows  generation,  that  it  is 
doubtful  if  either  will  ever  change.  After  all,  are 
not  both  right  .^  Is  it  not,  at  the  bottom,  a  ques- 
tion between  two  rights  regarding  the  affirmations 
and  of  two  wrongs  regarding  the  denials.-*  If  both 
should  continue  to  affirm  their  affirmations,  and  at 
the  same  time  learn  to  deny  their  denials,  what 
would  the  ultimate  consequence  be.? 


CHAPTER   IX 
CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM 

AS  among  the  ancient  Romans  the  word  *'  king  " 
was  ever  associated  with  ideas  of  slavery  and 
despotism,  so  in  the  minds  of  many  modern  Chris- 
tians the  word  "  sacerdotaHsm "  is  identified  exclu- 
sively with  a  type  of  religion  antagonistic  to  the 
spirit  of  the  Gospel  ;  with  a  kind  of  priestly  power 
and  domination  incompatible  with  the  glorious  lib- 
erty of  the  sons  of  God  ;  and  with  a  priestly  media- 
torship  between  human  souls  and  their  Father  in 
Heaven  utterly  at  variance  with  the  plain  declara- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  that  there  is  but  one 
Mediator  between  God  and  man,  even  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord. 

Christian  believers  differing  widely  among  them- 
selves in  their  theological  views,  or  ecclesiastical 
affiliations,  all  unite  in  an  intense  dislike  and  invet- 
erate suspicion  of  the  very  name  of  '* priest.''  And 
as  a  proof  that  this  honest  dislike  originates  in  no 
mere  prejudice  or  narrow-mindedness,  they  point 
to  the  records  of  the  past.  Appealing  to  history, 
they  affirm  that  wherever  the  spirit  of  sacerdotal- 
ism has  prevailed,  it  has  always  blighted  the  pure 
religious  life  of  the  people  and  become  the  parent 
of  superstition    and    degradation;    that,    among   the 


196  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSIIIP 

ancient  Jews,  it  was  chiefly  associated  with  outward 
forms,  levitical  rites  and  ceremonies,  or  perfunc- 
tory legal  observances,  which,  they  say,  would  have 
smothered  the  higher  life  of  the  people  had  it  not 
been  for  the  fearless  prophets  and  reformers  whom 
God  raised  up,  from  age  to  age  ;  while  many  go  so 
far  as  to  attribute  most  of  the  corruptions  that  de- 
graded the  life  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  dark 
ages  that  preceded  the  Protestant  Reformation,  to 
the  priestcraft  and  sacerdotal  pretensions  of  the 
clergy. 

Appealing  next  to  the  Gospels  themselves,  they 
show  that  at  the  head  and  forefront  of  those  enemies 
who  brought  about  the  condemnation  and  crucifixion 
of  Christ,  were  the  high-priestly  family  of  Annas  and 
the  priests  of  the  temple  ;  that  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment there  is  an  evident  distinction  drawn  between 
the  old  Jewish  priesthood  and  the  Christian  Ministry, 
and  that,  amid  all  the  different  terms  used  in  describ- 
ing the  ministers  of  the  Church,  the  v^oxdi ''  sacerdos'' 
is  conspicuous  by  its  absence.  Though  described  as 
apostles  and  prophets,  bishops,  elders  and  deacons, 
evangelists,  pastors  and  teachers,  ministers  are  never 
called  priests.  Furthermore,  it  is  afiirmed  that,  as 
the  word  "  priest  "  is  distinctly  derived  from  presbu- 
teros,  meaning  a7i  elder,  it  stands  as  a  witness  to 
the  ages  against  any  sacerdotal  order  in  the  Primi- 
tive Church  ;  that  only  by  a  mediaeval  transposition 
of  meaning  does  "presbyter"  appear  as  the  English 
equivalent  for  the  Latin  saecrdos  or  the  Greek  Jiier- 
eus ;  and  that  the  transposition  was  effected  in  the 
Middle  Ages  by  those  who  —  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously—  were  blinded  either  by  a  desire  for  priestly 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  1 97 

power,  or  else  by  false  and  unscriptural  ideas  of  the 
Christian  ministry. 

Lastly,  it  is  affirmed  that,  though  sacerdotal  pre- 
tensions thus  took  shelter  under  an  innocent  name, 
the  institution  still  preserved  its  old  characteristics, 
and  at  last  manifested  so  clearly  its  anti-scriptural 
tendencies  that  the  word  "priest"  (presbyter  or 
elder)  aroused  the  same  kind  of  prejudice  and 
antagonism  among  the  true  children  of  God  that 
the  term  sacerdos  had  done  among  their  forefathers 
in  days  of  yore. 

We  have  striven  to  state  these  objections  to  the 
popular  conception  of  sacerdotalism  as  fairly  and 
honestly  as  possible,  not  only  that  the  many  earnest 
Christians  who  hold  them  may  be  satisfied  that  their 
views  upon  this  subject  have  been  impartially  and 
adequately  set  forth,  but  that  we  may  use  them  our- 
selves in  differentiating  between  true  and  false  ideas 
of  Christian  Priesthood.  For  we  are  persuaded  that 
the  time  is  fast  approaching  when  this  whole  subject 
of  Sacerdotalism  will  be  investigated  and  studied  by 
Christians  in  general  in  that  impartial  way  in  which 
men  are  learning  more  and  more  to  approach  all 
truth;  and  that  this  investigation  will  undoubt- 
edly be  one  of  the  factors  in  the  promotion  of  the 
future  reunion  of  Christendom.  The  question  now 
arises,  Is  there  a  true.  Christian,  Sacerdotalism? 


I 

The  idea  conveyed  b}-  the  words  "  priest "  and 
"  sacrifice "  undoubtedly  corresponds  to  some  in- 
ward   want    or    religious    instinct   of  human    nature. 


198      '    NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

whose  univ^ersality  tells  its  own  story.  A  religion 
without  a  priest  of  some  kind  would  be  an  imper- 
fect, artificial  religion,  for  it  would  violate  a  divine 
instinct  of  humanity.  Modern  science  has  taught  us 
that  the  very  presence  of  an  instinct  in  animals  or 
men  is  an  indication  of  purpose  or  use.  And  it 
seems  equally  clear  that  the  idea  of  sacrifice  has  al- 
ways grown  out  of  a  human  consciousness  of  guilt, 
or  sin,  separating  man  from  God,  and  a  desire  for 
its  removal;  that  such  sin  is  intimately  connected 
with  the  thought  of  life  ;  and  that  blood  is,  as  it  were, 
nature's  sacrament,  which  to  all  mankind  represents 
life} 

It  is  true,  that  wherever  in  heathen  religions  we  find 
the  institution  of  priesthood  and  sacrifice,  we  find  also 
priestcraft,  and  a  kind  of  priestly  domination  that  gives 
rise  to  superstition  ;  but  this  arises,  in  every  case,  from 
perversion.  All  truth  is  liable  to  such  perversion 
through  the  sinfulness  of  the  human  heart;  ail  human 
experience  shows  that  the  greater  a  power,  or  the 
more  sacred  a  truth,  the  greater  is  the  tendency  of 
man  to  pervert  it. 

It  is  so  in  physical  life ;  it  is  so  in  social  and  intel- 
lectual life  ;  and  it  is  pre-eminently  so  in  that  spiritual 
life  which  comprehends  and  sanctifies  all  lower  phases 
of  existence.     If  the  spiritual  power  of  the  priesthood 

1  Illustrations  of  this  fact  can  be  drawn  from  all  human  history. 
The  shedding  of  blood  has  always  a  strange  and  mysterious  power 
over  human  hearts.  This  is  seen  not  only  in  religious  sacrifices,  but 
in  the  Roman  gladiatorial  shows  and  modern  bull-fights.  Again,  in 
times  of  a  riot  or  disturbance  the  populace  can  be  kept  quiet  as  long 
as  they  are  simply  restrained  by  superior  force  ;  but  the  moment 
the  first  drop  of  blood  is  shed  they  are  instantly  excited  to  a  frenzy, 
for  human  nature  feels  intuitively  that  blood  always  meatis  life. 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  1 99 

has  been  perverted  in  the  past,  so  has  also  the  secular 
power  of  political  rulers.  But  there  is  this  distinction 
between  the  one  and  the  other.  In  facing  political 
power,  the  world  has  learned  to  distinguish  between 
the  thing  itself  and  its  perversion ;  that  is,  between 
the  true  and  the  false  use  of  a  power  that  God  has 
given  to  man ;  whereas  in  sacerdotalism  the  per- 
versions have  been  so  unholy,  conspicuous,  and 
numerous,  that  the  conception  of  a  self-sacrificing 
priesthood  has  been  well-nigh  blotted  out  altogether 
from  men's  minds. 

II 

But  we  are  not  left  to  the  study  of  comparative 
religions  to  discover  that  this  institution  of  priest  and 
sacrifice  arose  from  a  divine  instinct  in  human  nature, 
and  had,  therefore,  a  divine  purpose  and  use.  For, 
in  the  Old  Testament,  God  Himself  set  His  seal  of 
approbation  upon  the  institution ;  and  whatever  light 
the  study  of  a  Higher  Criticism  may  throw  upon  the 
origin  of  the  Jewish  priesthood  and  various  prescribed 
sacrifices  of  the  ancient  Jewish  ritual,  it  is  plain  that 
they  had  not  only  a  divine  sanction  as  the  expression 
of  a  true  religious  instinct,  but  an  educational  purpose 
and  a  prophetic  significance  in  preparing  the  world 
for  Christ. 

The  Jewish  priesthood  was  a  sacred  order  ordained 
by  God.  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram  were  destroyed 
for  taking  this  honor  to  themselves  without  being 
appointed  by  God  ;  ^  a  similar  sin  had  been  committed 
by  Nadab  and  Abihu ;  and  now  it  was  stated,  with 
reiterated  emphasis,  that  the  blood  of  the  prescribed 

1  Num.  xvi.  1-35. 


200         NEW    TESTAMENT    CIIURCHMANSHIP 

sacrifices  really  symbolized  life,  not  death. ^  Hence- 
forth, to  every  writer  both  of  Old  and  New  Testament 
days,  as  well  as  to  the  whole  Jewish  nation,  from 
Moses  to  Christ,  blood  always  meant  life.  The  idea 
that  blood  means  death  only  is  entirely  of  modern 
origin,  and  from  this  cause,  perhaps,  more  than  any 
other,  have  arisen  most  modern  difficulties  regarding 
the  Atonement;  difficulties  that  disappear  the  mo- 
ment the  word  is  taken  in  the  same  sense  in  which 
the  ancient  Jews  and  every  Christian  believer  who 
lived  in  New  Testament  days  understood  it. 

But,  notwithstanding  all  the  increased  light  which 
the  Jewish  religion  threw  upon  the  institution  of 
priesthood  and  sacrifice,  it  was  felt,  even  by  the 
people  themselves,  to  be  imperfect.  We  have  only 
to  read  the  words  of  the  ancient  prophets,  stretching 
in  a  line  back  to  Samuel,  to  discover  that  they  felt 
deeply,  increasingly,  how  impossible  it  was  for  the 
blood  of  bulls  or  of  goats  to  take  away  sin.  And 
when  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  speaks 
of  the  imperfections  of  the  Jewish  Priesthood  and 
sacrifices,  he  must  have  given  expression  to  truths  of 
which  generations  of  his  forefathers  had  been  diml)' 
conscious. 

The  Jewish  law,  which  was  a  schoolmaster  to  bring 
men  to  Christ,  developed  moral  aspirations  it  could 
not  satisfy.  Therefore,  it  is  among  the  Jews  them- 
selves, more  than  anywhere  else,  that  we  fin^  an  in- 
tensity of  desire,  as  well  as  an  ever  growing  need,  not 
only  for  an  ideal  Prophet  and  King,  but  for  an  ideal 
Priest. 

No  Christian  believer  will  be  found  to  dispute  the 
1  Lev.  xvii.  ii,  14,  etc. 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  20I 

fact  that  Christ  in  His  Life  and  Death,  His  Resurrec- 
tion and  Ascension,  fulfils  to  the  uttermost  the  office 
of  this  ideal  Priest.  We  must,  therefore,  look  to 
Christ  Himself,  and  to  Christ  alone,  for  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  meaning  of  sacerdotal  life  and  power. 
All  true  conceptions  of  priesthood  centre  in  Him ; 
and  all  kinds  of  Christian  priesthood  which  are  differ- 
ent from  this  great  archetype  must  be  unscriptural 
and  false. 

HI 

Christ  was  this  ideal  priest,  first,  because  He  was 
so  by  nature  and  inherent  right.  The  author  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  dwells  strongly  upon  this 
thought.  Other  priests  were  appointed  to  their  office ; 
Christ  was  made  priest,  not  by  the  law  of  a  carnal 
commandment,  but  because  He  possessed  *'  the  power 
of  an  endless  life."^  Other  priests  do  not  abide, — 
they  are  not  only  too  imperfect  in  themselves  to  offer 
a  perfect  moral  sacrifice,  but  they  pass  away,  and 
others  succeed  them  in  office;  Christ  abideth  for- 
ever, with  an  unchangeable  Priesthood.  Christ  was 
not,  therefore,  and  could  not  possibly  be,  a  priest 
after  the  order  of  Aaron.  His  higher  Order  of  Priest- 
hood, indeed,  comprehended  that  which  already  ex- 
isted among  the  Jews,  but  it  was  infinitely  higher, 
infinitely  greater,  infinitely  more  real.  For  this  rea- 
son, we  observe  the  strongest  possible  distinction 
drawn  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  between  Christ 
and  the  Jewish  priests.  Never  in  the  Gospel  history 
do  we  find  Him  exercising  the  prescribed  duties  of 

1  Heb.  vii.  i6. 


202  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

the  Jewish  priesthood.  Though  He  calls  the  Temple 
"His  Father's  House"  never  does  He  participate  as 
a  priest  in  the  services  of  the  Jewish  Temple,  or  offer 
any  sacrifice  upon  the  Temple  altar. 

Standing  thus  apart  from  that  Jewish  priesthood 
which  so  persistently  claimed  a  priestly  authority 
and  power  directly  handed  down  from  Aaron,  Christ. 
"  glorified  not  Himself  to  be  made  an  High  Priest."  ^ 
Indeed,  there  is  not  a  single  passage  in  all  the  Gos- 
pels where  He,  Who  was  really  the  Priest  after  the 
order  of  Melchizcdek,  directly  calls  himself  a  "  Priest." 
But  He  fulfils  our  human  zdeal  of  a  priestly  life  in 
the  three  years  of  His  ministry  by  His  actions  and 
example,  and  reveals  the  power  of  His  heavenly 
Priesthood  by  His  prayers,  and  His  willingness, 
through  suffering,  to  do  the  will  of  God  on  earth 
as  it  is  done  in  Heaven.^ 

Christ  was  the  ideal  Priest  because  He  offered  up 
an  ideal  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world. 
**  Every  high  priest  is  ordained  to  offer  gifts  and 
sacrifices:  wherefore  it  is  of  necessity  that  this  Man 
have  somewhat  also  to  offer.^ 

One  reason  why  Christ  is  never  spoken  of  as 
Priest  in  any  of  the  four  Gospels  is  because,  before 
the  Crucifixion,  the  time  had  not  arrived  for  Him 
to  exercise  the  functions  of  His  high-priestly  offfce. 
It  was  on  the  night  of  His  betrayal  that  His  glorifi- 
cation began.^ 

The  only  sacrifice  for  sin  that  Christ  offered  on 
this  earth  was  that  of  His  own  Body  and  Blood  on 
the  Cross.     Christ,  therefore,  was  not  only  the  One 

1  Heb.  V.  5.  3  Heb.  viii.  3. 

2  Heb.  V.  7-10.  *  St.  John  xiii.  31  j  xvii.  I. 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  203 

Priest  of  humanity,  but  the  One  Sacrifice,  the  One 
Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the 
world. ^ 

In  Christ's  sacrifice  all  the  separated  and  different 
parts  of  the  Jewish  symbolic  sacrifices  are  gathered 
together  in  one.  Christ  was  the  Offerer,  Who  wil- 
lingly offered  His  own  human  life  for  the  sins  of  the 
world;  Christ  was  the  Priest  Who  made  the  offering; 
Christ  was  the  Lamb  Who  was  offered. 

Christ's  priesthood  did  not  end  with  the  one,  full, 
perfect,  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation,  and  satis- 
faction which  He  made  on  the  cross  for  the  sins 
of  the  whole  world.  That  sacrifice  of  suffering  for  sin 
was,  indeed,  completed  when  He  cried  on  the  cross 
"■  It  is  finished,''  but  He  only  began  the  exercise 
of  His  office  as  the  High  Priest  on  the  day  of  the 
Crucifixion.  He  was  Priest  after  *'  the  power  of  an 
endless  life."  ^  Three  days  after  He  had  poured  out 
His  life  blood  for  the  sins  of  the  world  He  rose 
from  the  dead.     The  Lamb  that  was  slain  came  to 

1  "  This  Oneness  is  dwelt  upon  by  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  with  great  emphasis,  and  the  more  it  is  realized,  the  more  it 
reveals  by  contrast  the  imperfection  of  the  symbolic  offerings  of  the 
Jewish  law.  In  the  Jewish  sacrifices  there  was  the  following  order : 
(i)  the  offerer  slew  the  victim  ;  (2)  that  victim  being  an  animal  of  the 
brute  creation  slain  for  the  sins  of  a  human  being;  (3)  its  blood  was 
poured  out,  as  a  symbol  of  life,  and  made  available  for  others  ;  (4)  the 
priest  sprinkled  that  blood,  as  a  symbol  of  life,  upon  the  altar  to  make 
an  atonement  for  sin.  The  imperfection  of  such  a  sacrifice  is  shown  by 
these  facts  :  (i)  the  offerer,  the  priest,  and  the  sacrifice,  were  separate 
and  distinct  from  one  another  ;  (2)  the  victim  was  a  dumb  animal,  slain 
not  only  for  sins  of  which  it  was  ignorant,  but  which  were  committed 
by  another  ;  (3)  the  blood  was  not  life  itself,  but  only  a  symbol  of  life  ; 
(4)  it  had  no  power  of  really  imparting  life  after  it  had  been  poured 
out. 

'^  Heb.  vii.  16. 


204  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

life  again,  the  blood  of  sacrifice  became  life,  and  the 
living  **  power  of  the  Resurrection."  That  blood  was, 
henceforth,  in  the  Priest  and  in  the  Lamb,  as  He 
ascended  to  Heaven,  "  the  Holy  Place  not  made  with 
hands."  There  it  is  presented  at  the  altar  by  the 
High  Priest,  Who  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession 
for  those  who  come  to  God  by  Him,^  Whose  Presence 
itself  is  a  continuous  intercession,  and  from  Heaven 
that  blood  is  imparted  as  life  to  men. 

The  sacrifice  for  sin  is,  therefore,  only  one  part 
of  that  eternal  sacrifice  that  Christ  our  High  Priest 
offers.  There  is  also  the  sacrifice  of  prayer  and  in- 
tercession for  men,  the  sacrifice  of  praise  and  thanks- 
giving for  men,  the  sacrifice  of  imparting  His  life 
to  men. 

If  the  sacrifice  that  Christ  had  to  offer  was  only  a 
sacrifice  for  sin,  then  Christ's  Priesthood  ends  when 
sin  ends.  But  this  cannot  be,  for  Christ  remaineth 
forever  a  Priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek.  We 
would  draw  close  attention  to  this  truth,  for  it  leads 
up  to  what  follows. 

If  Christ  the  Priest  is,  at  the  same  time,  Christ  the 
Lamb  of  God,  then  the  power  of  His  Priesthood  is 
the  power  of  Divine  self-sacrifice.  Christ  has  shown 
us  that  this  is  the  secret  and  culmination  of  all  priestly 
life.  If  priest  and  sacrifice  are  inseparable  from  one 
another,  if  the  thoughts  of  sacrifice  and  sin,  sacrifice 
and  life,  sacrifice  and  power,  are,  and  have  been  from 
time  immemorial,  so  intimately  associated  with  one 
another  by  an  ineradicable  human  instinct,  then 
here,  in  Christ,  the  ideal  Priest,  we  have  the  explana- 
tion and  interpretation  of  this  fact. 
1  Heb.  vii.  25. 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  205 

If  self-sacrifice  is  thus  the  law  of  priestly  life,  it  is 
because  self-sacrifice  is  the  Law  of  Love.  "  Love 
is  not  self-contained,  but  self-expending,  and  per- 
fected in  self-expenditure.  The  devotion  of  love  in 
the  sphere  of  Heaven  is  perfection  of  joy.  But  de- 
votion of  love  to  another  in  conditions  of  earth  — 
even  whilst  it  touches  the  highest  possibilities  of  joy 
—  means  always  more  or  less  of  pain.  Devotion  of 
self,  in  a  world  of  sin  and  suffering,  to  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  those  who  are  enmeshed  in  suffering  and 
sin,  is  forthwith,  in  external  aspect,  sacrifice,  and  in 
inner  essence,  love.  There  is  no  essential  contrast 
between  sacrifice  and  love.  Love,  under  certain 
disabling  conditions,  becomes  sacrifice;  and  sacri- 
fice is  not  sacrifice,  except  it  be  love.  Thoughts 
like  these  are,  it  seems  to  me,  of  primary  importance 
if  we  would  understand  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  It  is 
the  aspect  which  Divine  love  takes  within  the  sphere 
of  certain  conditions,  which  conditions  are  de  facto 
inseparable  from  our  life  on  earth  as  it  is.  The  heart 
of  what  it  really  is,  is  the  holy  ofiering  up  of  life  in 
love.  Apart  from  sin  it  would  have  been  all  life  and 
all  love.  But  life  that  has  sinned  cannot  offer  itself 
perfectly  to  love  without  dying  to  sin.  One  aspect 
of  love  to  God  is  hatred  of  sin.  Man  cannot  love 
God  without  hating  sin;  nor  love  Him  perfectly 
without  hating  sin  even  unto  death.  .  .  .  Divine  love, 
then,  in  the  nature  of  man,  takes  the  form  of  self- 
surrender  to  death.  But  so  far  from  being,  as  death, 
the  final  object,  this  death  is  only  real  as  a  mode  of 
love,  and  a  passage  from  sin  into  holiness  which  is 
life.  If  verbally  we  confine  the  word  *  sacrifice '  to 
that  which  love  becomes    within  the  sphere  of  sin. 


206  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

we  must  recognize,  at  least,  in  doing  so,  that  our 
word,  so  defined,  expresses  not  the  central  essence, 
but  what  is  really  a  secondary,  if  inseparable,  aspect 
of  that  of  which  it  speaks.  The  essential  heart  of 
sacrifice  is  love;  pain  and  death  are,  so  to  say,  its 
acquired  conditions.  .  .  .  Sacrifice  is  love,  within  the 
sphere  of  sin,  suffering  and  dying;  and  priesthood 
is  the  function  of  expressing  and  exhibiting  that 
love,  which,  once  for  all,  in  the  Person  of  Jesus 
Christ,  has  become  within  sin's  sphere,  self-devoting 
sacrifice.  The  Priesthood  of  Christ,  then,  is  Divine 
Love  under  conditions  of  humanity."  ^ 

After  sin  is  expiated,  atoned  for,  blotted  out  for- 
ever, the  other  offices  of  self-giving  love  remain, 
expressing  themselves  in  self-devotion  to  God  and 
to  man.  And  in  such  offerings  Christ  remains  *'  a 
Priest  forever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek,"  be- 
cause for  us  men  He  is  the  Eternal  High  Priest  of 
Love. 

IV 

Bearing  in  mind  this  thought  of  the  intimate  con- 
nection between  priesthood  and  love,  let  us  now 
pass  to  the  Church  of  Christ.  In  the  New  Testa- 
ment, Christ  and  His  Church  are  spoken  of  as  one. 
They  are  necessarily  united  in  one  because  the  Life 
of  Christ  is  the  life  of  the  Church.  Our  Lord  taught 
us  that  this  union  was  like  that  of  the  branch  and  the 
vine,  and  that  the  moment  the  Church  is  separated 
from  Him  it  becomes  withered  and  dead,^  for  it  has 

1  "  Ministerial  Priesthood,"  by  Canon  R.  C.  Moberly,  D.D., 
p.  247,  seq. 

2  St.  John  XV.  4-6.   • 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  207 

no  life  apart  from  Him.  *'  Without  Me  ye  can  do 
nothing."  After  Pentecost,  when  the  Apostles  had 
learned,  both  from  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  from  their  own  experience,  what  this  union  be- 
tween Christ  in  Heaven  and  the  Church  really  was, 
they  were  able  to  go  farther.  St.  Paul  teaches  us  not 
only  that  Christ  is  the  Vine  and  they  the  branches, 
but  that  Christ  is  the  Head,  in  Whom  all  fulness 
dwells,  and  that  the  Church  on  earth  is  His  body.^ 
By  virtue  of  this  union,  and  through  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  members  of  the  Church  are  i7i  CJirist, 
in  the  heavenly  places ;  ^  while  Christ  is  in  tJicm  on 
earth.  His  life  is  their  life.  They  are  dead  with  Him, 
risen  with  Him,  ascended  to  the  heavenly  places  in 
Him.  If  He  is  the  Prophet,  the  Church  is  prophetic  ; 
if  He  is  the  King,  the  Church  is  royal  and  reigns  with 
Him.  If  He  is  the  Priest,  the  Church  is  also  priestly. 
Indeed,  this  must  be  so,  if,  as  we  have  said.  Priest  and 
Sacrifice  are,  in  human  language,  the  expression  of 
self-devoting  love. 

Instead,  therefore,  of  outgrowing  sacerdotalism, 
the  members  of  the  Church  should,  in  their  personal 
life,  grow  up  to  it,  and  they  will  surely  do  so  in  pro- 
portion as  they  grow  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge 
of  Jesus  Christ  our   Lord. 

That  true  Christianity,  of  the  New  Testament 
type,  is  saturated  with  the  spirit  of  sacerdotalism 
is  shown  by  those  words  of  St.  Peter :  "  Ye  are  a 
chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood,  a  holy  nation, 
a  peculiar  people ;  that  ye  should  show  forth  the 
praises  of   Him  who  hath  called   you   out   of  dark- 

1  Col.  i.  18,  19;   I  Cor.  xii.,  etc. 

2  Eph.  i.  19-23.     Compare  ii.  4-6. 


208  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

ness  into  His  marvellous  light ;  "  ^  as  also  by  these 
of  St.  John :  **  Unto  Him  that  loved  us,  and  washed 
us  from  our  sins  in  His  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us 
kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  His  Father;  to  Him 
be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen."^ 

This  truth  regarding  the  Priesthood  of  the  Church 
has  been  obscured  for  a  double  reason.  If  there  are 
some  who  have  been  afraid  to  recognize  the  priest- 
hood of  the  clergy,  there  have  been  others  equally 
fearful  of  emphasizing  too  much  that  of  the  laity,  and 
the  result  has  been  not  only  that  both  causes  have 
worked  together  in  undervaluing  one  of  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  the  Christian  religion,  but  that  our 
modern  religious  life  has  fallen  far  below  the  New 
Testament  standard.  Why  is  it  that  so  few  of  the 
laity  feel  that  there  is  any  responsibility  resting  upon 
them,  as  co-workers  with  Christ,  for  the  spread  of 
Christ's  Kingdom  on  earth?  Why  are  there  so 
many  who  dissociate  wholly  their  secular  from  their 
religious  life  and  duties ;  so  few  who  realize  that 
their  earthly  profession  is  itself  a  high  callin'g  of  God 
in  which  one  is  to  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus?  Why  have  our  laity  generally  lost  the  idea 
of  worship,  —  a  worship  of  Common  Prayer  in  which 
they  are  to  offer  up  to  God  a  real  personal  sacrifice 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving?  Why  has  the  idea  of 
**  charity"  and  ''almsgiving"  so  generally  crowded 
out  the  higher  idea  of  the  stewardship  of  wealth,  and 
of  the  consecration  of  all  one's  possessions  to  the  ser- 
vice of  Christ?  Why  do  fathers  of  families  so  com- 
pletely abdicate  the  position  of  priest  in  their  own 
households?  the  difficulty  is  that  the  priesthood  of 
i  Peter  ii.  9.  2  Rgv.  i.  5,  6. 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  20g 

the  laity  is  not  recognized.  Our  laymen  do  not 
realize  their  divine  responsibility,  their  divine  privi- 
leges as  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood ; 
a  race  of  kings  and  of  priests,  consecrated  in  their 
baptism  to  be  the  religious  leaders  of  their  fellow 
men,  and  priests  in  their  own  households.  The 
ruling  idea  of  all  priestly  service  is  wanting  in 
them.  The  priestly  life  is  one  of  continuous  joyous 
self-sacrifice,  first,  in  the  service  of  God,  in  the 
church  and  the  home,  in  the  daily  life  and  calling; 
and  secondly,  in  the  service  of  man,  in  obe}'ing 
Christ's  new  commandment  to  love  one  another  as 
He  has  loved  us.  Such  self-sacrifice  leads  to  daily 
outward  actions  that  correspond  with  the  supreme 
inward  motive ;  and  never  will  the  Church  of  Christ, 
therefore,  regain  its  old-time  New  Testament  power 
until  the  priesthood  of  the  laity  Is  realized. 


V 

We  come  now  to  the  priesthood  of  the  clergy. 
Notwithstanding  the  recognized  evils  of  sacerdotalism 
In  heathen  nations  and  the  manifest  imperfections  of 
the  Jewish  priesthood ;  notwithstanding  the  abuse  of 
priestly  power  and  the  corruptions  of  priestcraft  in 
the  middle  ages;  notwithstanding  the  widespread 
antipathy  to  sacerdotalism  that  has  prevailed  In  all 
Protestant  lands  since  the  Reformation,  the  One  Holy 
Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  has  clung  persistently 
to  the  doctrine  that  there  Is  a  distinctive  priesthood 
in  the  Apostolic  Ministry  of  the  Church,  and  has  de- 
clared it  with  unfaltering  voice  for  eighteen  hundred 
years. 

14 


2IO  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

A  fact  like  this  cannot  be  easily  set  aside,  for  it 
comes  to  us  fortified  by  the  authority  of  the  ages. 
If  we  compare  the  history  of  this  doctrine  with  that 
of  other  Christian  doctrines  that  have  similarly  rooted 
themselves  in  the  consciousness  of  the  Church,  we 
should  judge  that  it  plainly,  by  a  Christian  instinct, 
is  connected  with  the  Analogy  of  the  Faith. 

It  is  true  that  the  whole  Christian  Church  as  the 
body  of  Christ,  by  virtue  of  its  union  with  Him,  the 
Prophet,  Priest,  and  King  in  Heaven,  becomes  a 
race  of  kings  and  priests  unto  God ;  but  it  is  also 
true  that  in  that  Church  there  are  "  diversities  of 
gifts,"  "  differences  of  administrations,"  "  diversities 
of  operations"  created  by  that  same  Spirit  Who 
divideth  **  to  every  man  severally  as  he  will  "  ^  and 
our  Lord  Himself  divided  ministers  from  people  by 
the  outward  act  of  choosing  an  Apostolic  Ministry 
before  He  ascended  to  Heaven. 

This  Apostolic  Ministry  must  of  necessity  be 
priestly  in  character,  because  it  is  one  with  the  Royal 
High  Priest  who  commissions  it,  and  one  with  the 
Church,  which  through  union  with  Christ,  is  made  a 
royal  priesthood ;  but  it  cannot  possibly  be,  in  any 
sense,  a  mediatorial  priesthood,  coming  between 
Christ  and  His  Church,  for  this  would  imply  that 
some  kind  of  separation  exists  between  the  Head  of 
the  Church  in  Heaven,  and  His  Body  on  earth. 
This  negatives  forever  the  idea  that  the  priesthood 
of  the  clergy  is  different  in  kind  from  that  of  the 
laity;  that  it  was  ordained  to  offer  up  any  different 
sacrifices  from  those  that  the  Body  of  the  Faithful 
offer;   that  it  adds  anything  to,   or  is   in  any  way  a 

1    I  Cor.  xii.  4-12. 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  2  11 

substitute  for,  the  inherent  priesthood  of  the  Church 
itself.     It  is  simply  a  representative  priesthood. 

The  Apostolic  Ministry  is,  in  a  word,  the  priestly 
organ  of  a  priestly  Body.  Its  members  are  commis- 
sioned by  the  Head  of  the  Church  to  act  for  the 
Body  in  the  discharge  of  certain  priestly  offices. 
They  must  be  baptized  and  confirmed  before  they 
are  ordained,  and  it  is  as  members  of  a  chosen 
generation,  a  peculiar  people,  a  royal  priesthood, 
that  they  are  appointed  by  the  Head  of  the  Church, 
to  represent  that  inherently  priestly  body,  ordained 
to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices  to  God.  The  distinc- 
tion between  a  false,  or  mediatorial  priesthood,  and 
the  true  representative  priesthood  of  the  Church, 
cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized.  If  the  priest- 
hood were  vicarious,  the  priest  would  be  a  personal 
mediator  between  Christ  and  the  people;  in  the 
representative  priesthood  he  is  simply  the  minister 
of  Christ's  priesthood  to  the  people,  and  the  minis- 
ter of  the  people's  priesthood  to  God.  If  the  priest- 
hood were  vicarious  he  would  ofier  up  a  kind  of 
sacrifice  which  the  people  cannot  ofi"er ;  in  the  repre- 
sentative priesthood  he  joins  with  them  in  offering 
the  same  sacrifice,  and  only  differs  from  them  in 
being  appointed  by  Christ  and  His  Church  to  act 
as  their  representative.  A  mediatorial  priesthood 
would  break  the  oneness  of  Christ  with  His  Church  ; 
an  organic  representative  priesthood,  on  the  con- 
trary, fulfils  and  gives  perfect  outward  expression  to 
that  oneness. 

If  the  Apostolic  Ministry  has  been  appointed  to 
discharge  certain  priestly  functions  on  behalf  of  the 
body,  it  is   because   the  exercise  of  tliese   functions 


212  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

is  needful  for  the  welfare  of  the  body.  Especially 
is  this  true  with  regard  to  the  celebration  of  the 
holy  Eucharist,  in  which  the  Church  on  earth  unites 
with  Christ  in  Heaven  in  pleading  the  merits  of  His 
one,  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation,  and 
satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  In  this, 
her  highest  priestly  act,  the  Church  celebrates  and 
offers  to  the  Father,  according  to  the  institution  of 
His  most  dearly  beloved  Son,  the  memorial  which 
Christ  commanded  her  to  make,  until  His  coming 
again,  having  in  remembrance  not  only  His  blessed 
Passion  and  precious  Death,  but  also  His  mighty 
Resurrection  and  glorious  Ascension ;  and  render- 
ing unto  God  most  hearty  thanks  for  the  innumer- 
able benefits  procured  unto  her  by  the  same. 

Bearing  in  mind  what  has  been  already  said  re- 
garding the  Holy  Eucharist  in  its  relation  to  the 
Ascension  of  Christ  and  His  High  Priestly  Office 
(see  Chapter  V.),  it  will  be  recognized  that  the 
priestly  character  of  the  Church,  the  Body  of  Christ, 
is  peculiarly  sacred,  by  virtue  of  her  close  and 
intimate  union  with  Him,  her  Head,  in  Heaven; 
therefore  the  Apostolic  Ministry  was  ordained  by 
Christ  both  to  discharge  and  safeguard  her  priestly 
functions,  especially  in  those  things  which  pertain  to 
the  highest  outward  expression  of  her  priestly  life, 
but  only  in  a  representative  capacity.  Let  it  be 
distinctly  observed  that  the  whole  Body  of  the 
Church  has  the  inherent  right  to  offer  the  same 
kind  of  sacrifice  that  the  priest  offers,  and  that  the 
congregation  do  offer  it  through  the  ordained  priest. 

As  Canon  Moberly  well  says  :  "  The  Christian 
ministry  is  not  a  substituted  intermediary — still  less 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  21  3 

an  atoning  mediator  —  between  God  and  lay  people; 
but  it  is  rather  the  representative  and  organ  of  the 
whole  body,  in  the  exercise  of  prerogatives  and 
powers  which  belong  to  the  body  as  a  whole.  It  is 
ministerially  empowered  to  wield,  as  the  body's 
organic  representative,  the  powers  which  belong  to 
the  body,  but  which  the  body  cannot  wield  except 
through  its  own  organs  duly  fitted  for  the  purpose. 
What  is  duly  done  by  Christian  Ministers,  it  is  not 
so  much  that  they  do  it  in  the  stead,  or  for  the  sake, 
of  the  whole  ;  but  rather  that  the  whole  does  it  by 
and  through  them.  The  Christian  Priest  does  not 
offer  an  atoning  sacrifice  on  behalf  of  the  Church ; 
it  is  rather  the  Church  through  his  act  that,  not  so 
much  '  offers  an  atonement,'  as  '  is  identified  upon 
earth  with  the  one  heavenly  offering  of  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ.'  "  ^ 

There  is,  therefore,  in  the  Church,  ministerial  au- 
thority derived  directly  from  Christ,  but  there  is  no 
clerical  caste.  The  difference  between  these  two  ideas 
should  be  carefully  noted.  Authority  is  one  thing, 
caste  is  another. 

St.  Paul,  when  he  calls  the  Church  the  Body  of 
Christ,  distinctly  states  that  the  Apostles  —  and  the 
ministry  that  was  developed  out  of  the  Apostolate  — 
were  themselves  a  part  of  the  Body,  comprehended 
in  the  Body,  ^nd  exercised  their  particular  ministry 
for  the  building  of  the  Body.  They  are  dependent 
upon  the  Body  as  much  as  the  Body  is  dependent 
upon  them.  This  truth  is  to  be  sharply  emphasized. 
But  side  by  side  with  it  there  is  a  counter  truth  that 
is  to  be  recognized  no  less  clearly. 

i  "  Ministerial  Priesthood,"  by  Canon  Moberly,  p.  242. 


2  14  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCIIMANSHIP 

"The  fact  that  the  organs  represent,  and  Hve  by,  the  life 
of  the  whole  body  does  not  mean  that  the  rest  of  the  body 
can  dispense  with  the  organs.  If  any  organs  are  missing, 
it  does  not  follow  that  all  the  rest  of  the  body  put  together 
can  discharge  the  special  functions  which  the  missing  organs 
were  made  to  discharge.  A  body,  however  otherwise  com- 
plete, cannot  see  without  eyes,  hear  without  ears,  or  run  a 
race  without  legs.  Still  less  does  it  follow  because  the  eye 
(say)  is  an  organ  of  the  whole  body,  living  and  seeing  by, 
and  not  apart  from,  the  body's  life,  that  therefore,  any  and 
every  other  member  of  the  body  severally  has  the  same 
functional  power  as  the  eye  for  seeing.  Nor,  again,  does  it 
follow  because  the  life  of  the  eye  is  the  life  of  the  body, 
specialized  for  a  particular  functional  purpose,  that  there- 
fore its  sight-capacity  is  conferred  upon  the  eye  at  the  will 
or  by  the  act  of  the  body.  Neither  any  other  member  in 
detail,  nor  the  body  as  a  whole,  conferred  upon  the  eye  its 
capacity  for  seeing,  or  can  transfer  that  capacity  to  any 
other  organ,  or  can  itself,  in  any  other  way,  exercise  the 
capacity  for  vision,  if  it  should  lose  the  eye.  The  eye  is 
but  an  organ  of  the  body  by  which  the  body  sees  :  the  hand 
is  but  an  organ  of  the  body  by  which  the  body  strikes. 
But  the  body  did  not  confer  upon  hand  or  eye  their  ca- 
pacity of  striking  or  of  seeing  for  the  body.  It  is  therefore 
abundantly  plain,  that  whatever  may  be  true  on  other 
grounds,  it  most  certainly  is  not  contained  as  a  logical  in- 
ference within  the  principle  that  Church  ministers  are  organs 
of  the  life  of  the  Body  of  the  Church,  and  not  interme- 
diaries between  the  Body  and  life ;  that,  therefore,  the  rest 
of  the  Body,  even  all  put  together,  —  much  less  that  any 
and  every  individual  member  of  it,  —  is  already  de  jure  a 
minister,  or  that  the  authority  of  ministers  to  minister  is 
derived  from,  or  is  conferred  by,  the  mere  act  or  will  of  the 
Body."  1 

1  '•  Ministerial  Priesthood,"  by  Canon  R.  C.  Mobeily  p.  68,  seq. 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  215 

To  the  fatal  confusion  between  these  two  ideas  of 
a  scriptural  ministerial  or  priestly  authority  and  an 
anti-scriptural  priestly  caste,  existing  prejudice  against 
sacerdotalism  is  largely  attributable. 

The  Christian  priest  is  a  man  among  men  ;  in 
every  respect  like  the  laymen  by  whom  he  is  sur- 
rounded, save  that  of  being  among  them  in  a  posi- 
tion of  authority  and  responsibility.  In  his  private 
and  personal  religious  life  he  and  the  laity  among 
whom  he  ministers  stand  side  by  side.  All  are 
alike  sinners  in  the  sight  of  God  ;  all  pass  through 
the  same  temptations  and  the  same  religious  ex- 
periences ;  all  must  repent  and  believe,  be  baptized 
and  confirmed  in  the  same  way,  and  enter  Heaven 
by  the  self-same  door.  There  is  not  one  law  for 
the  clergy,  another  for  the  laity ;  one  religious  rule 
for  the  clergy,  another  for  the  laity ;  one  social  stan- 
dard for  the  clergy,  another  for  the  laity.  Anything 
that  tends  to  confuse  the  mind  regarding  this  truth 
becomes  at  once  the  gravest  kind  of  impediment  to 
the  normal  growth  of  the  Church.  And  we  hesitate 
not  to  say  that  the  enforced  celibacy  of  the  clergy, 
in  some  branches  of  the  Church,  has  had  this  dis- 
astrous effect.  Originally  adopted  as  a  mere  method 
of  expediency,  in  times  when  there  was  danger  of 
a  hierarchy  and  of  offices  of  the  Church  being  handed 
down  from  father  to  son,  it  has  become  not  only  an 
anachronism,  but  a  means  of  promoting  that  very 
kind  of  caste  it  was  meant  to  prevent.  Under  any 
conditions  in  which  it  is  wrong  for  the  clergy  to 
marry  it  should  be  equally  wrong  for  the  laity  to 
marry  also.  This  is  but  one  illustration  out  of  many 
that  might  be  similarly  adduced. 


2l6  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 


VI 

We  come  now  to  a  question  that  has  been  re- 
peatedly asked :  What  scriptural  authority  is  there 
for  attributing  sacerdotal  functions  to  any  office  of 
the  Christian  ministry?  Why  is  the  very  name 
of  "  priest  "  so  plainly  avoided  in  all  descriptions  of 
that  ministry  given  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and 
the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament? 

We  answer :  For  the  same  reasons  for  which  Christ 
Himself  was  never,  in  the  Gospels,  called  the  High 
Priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek. 

If  the  use  of  that  name  "  Priest "  as  applied  to 
Christ  would  have  been  premature  and  have  caused 
confusion  of  thought  until  after  His  ascension  to 
Heaven;  it  would  have  been  still  more  premature, 
and  have  given  rise  to  even  greater  misconceptions, 
if  it  had  been  applied  to  Christ's  ministers  in  the 
times  when  the  Epistles  were  written. 

After  Pentecost,  though  Christ  Himself  could  now 
be  recognized  as  the  Priest  after  the  order  of  Mel- 
chizedek, the  difficulty  remained,  so  far  as  the  priestly 
character  of  the  Church's  ministry  was  concerned. 
So  familiar  were  the  Jews  at  that  time  with  the  asso- 
ciations and  ideas  connected  with  the  Jewish  priest- 
hood, that  if  Christ's  ministers  had  been  called  by 
this  name  there  would  have  been  the  gravest  danger 
of  false,  enslaving  and  antichristian  conceptions  of 
sacerdotalism.  The  Book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles and  the  Epistles  **  were  written  at  a  time  when 
sacrificial  and  priestly  language  were  de  facto  iden- 
tified   with    the    symbolic,    ceremonial,    and    unreal 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  217 

priesthood  and  sacrifices  of  the  Mosaic  Law.  To 
have  simply  taken  over  the  language  while  the 
Temple  was  standing  and  its  worship  in  full  force, 
then  to  have  called  Christian  ministers  as  such  lepel<;, 
and  the  breaking  of  the  bread  simply  Ovala,  would 
have  led  to  inextricable  misunderstanding  and  con- 
fusion:  what  was  possible  without  confusion,  and 
\vhat  was  necessary  for  apprehension  of  the  truth,  was 
to  explain  that  that  priesthood  and  those  sacrifices 
were  symbolic  only  and  unreal;  that  Christ  was 
the  only  true  Priest,  and  His  sacrifice  the  only  real 
sacrifice,  which,  coupled  with  the  basal  Christian  prin- 
ciple, that  the  bread  and  cup  are  the  Church's  cere- 
monial identification  with  Christ  in  His  sacrifice,  and 
that  a  real  identification  with  Him  in  His  sacrifice  is 
the  one  essentia  of  the  Church's  life,  constitutes  the 
whole  essence  of  sacrificial  and  priestly  doctrine. 
All  this  the  New  Testament  does  emphatically 
teach."  ^ 

We  have  seen  in  later  days  how  prone  Christians 
have  been  to  fall  into  error  by  drawing  a  parallel 
between  the  Jewish  high  priest,  priest,  and  Levite, 
and  the  Christian  bishop,  priest,  and  deacon.  How 
much  greater  that  error  would  have  been  had  Chris- 
tian ministers  been  called  ''priests"  in  the  New 
Testament   itself. 

Again,  there  was  the  still  more  important  distinction 
between  the  eternal  Priesthood  of  Christ  in  Heaven 
and  the  ministerial  priesthood  of  his  ordained  servants 
on  earth.  This  also  needed  to  be  plainly  recognized 
and  realized  by  the  Church  before  its  ministers  could 
safely  be  called  priests.  But  while  the  name  itself 
1  "  Ministerial  Priesthood/'  by  Canon  Moberly,  pp.  265,  266. 


2l8  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

was  thus,  for  a  wise  reason,  passed  o\fQr,\.\ie  functions 
of  a  real  priesthood,  in  the  Christian  sense,  were  un- 
doubtedly exercised  by  the  ministers  whom  Christ 
ordained ;  and  this,  as  Canon  Moberly  truly  says,  is 
emphatically  taught  in  the  New  Testament. 

Not  only  are  such  functions  directly  implied  when, 
as  ministers  of  Christ's  Priesthood,  they  celebrate 
and  administer  the  Sacrament  of  His  Body  and  Blood 
and  obey  His  command,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance 
of  Me,"  but  they  are  bidden  to  take  heed  to  them- 
selves, and  to  all  the  flock  over  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  hath  made  them  overseers,  to  feed  the  Church 
of  God  which  He  hath  purchased  with  His  own  blood.^ 
Again,  not  to  multiply  instances,  the  Corinthians  are 
reminded  by  St.  Paul  that  every  man  is  to  look  upon 
the  Apostles  as  Ambassadors  of  Christ,  and,  in  Christ's 
own  words,  as  ''  Stewards  "  of  the  Mysteries  of  God  ;  ^ 
and  then  St.  Paul  goes  on  to  say  that  the  steward 
is  required  to  be  faithful  to  such  a  degree,  that  it  is 
a  small  thing  for  him  to  be  judged  by  those  among 
whom  he  ministers  or  by  '*  man's  judgement,"  in  com- 
parison with  the  graver  responsibility  he  directly 
owes  to  God,  and  with  the  way  in  which  God  will  call 
him  to  give  an  account  of  his  stewardship. 

Though  the  word  '*  priest "  itself  may  not  be  used 
in  the  New  Testament  as  applied  to  Christian  minis- 
ters, it  is  evident  that  they  are  directly  charged  with 
the  responsibilities  of  an  office  that  can  be  nothing 
less  than  priestly,  in  the  Nezv  Testameiit  sense,  that  is, 
they  are  ministers  of  Christ's  Priesthood  as  well  as  of 
Christ's  Pastorhood.  And  this  does  not  militate  at 
all  against  the   fact  that  as  there   is  really  but   One 

1  Acts  XX.  28.  2  I  Cor.  iv.  i,  seq.     Compare  St.  Luke  xii  42. 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  219 

Pastor  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  —  the  Good  Shepherd 
Who  gave  His  life  for  the  sheep,  —  so  there  is  but  One 
Priest  of  the  Church,  even  He  Who  once  poured  out 
His  Hfe-blood  for  the  sins  of  the  world  and  Who  now 
ever  Hveth  to  make  intercession  for  us.  Indeed  the 
words  "pastor"  and  **  priest"  here  melt  into  one 
another;  and  any  idea  of  the  ministry  which  stops 
short  at  the  pastoral,  and  does  not  equally  take  in 
the  priestly  functions  of  the  office,  is  an  imperfect 
ideal,  and  falls  just  so  far  short  of  New  Testament 
teaching  regarding  its  responsibilities. 

And  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  Ordination  Service  of 
the  Prayer  Book,  following  exactly  the  same  line  as 
the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament,  dwells  so  earnestly 
upon  the  responsibility  of  the  office,  —  in  contradis- 
tinction to  the  name  itself,  —  that  Roman  Catholic 
theologians  have  emphasized  the  fact  of  that  omis- 
sion, as  a  proof  that  our  ideas  of  the  priesthood  were 
unsound.  There  is  no  charge  in  the  whole  Prayer 
Book  more  solemn  and  weighty  than  that  delivered 
to  the  ordinands  before  they  are  admitted  to  that 
which  is  called  in  the  begiiuiijig  of  the  service,  ''  the 
Order  of  the  Priesthood,"  and  the  **  holy  office  of  the 
Priesthood."  Yet,  in  the  charge  itself  —  just  as  in 
the  New  Testament  itself —  the  word  "  priest "  is  care- 
fully kept  in  the  background.  It  is  upon  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  office  that  the  whole  attention  of  the 
ordinands  is  concentrated  :  "  Ye  have  heard.  Brethren, 
as  well  in  your  private  examination  as  in  the  exhorta- 
tion which  was  now  made  to  you,  and  in  the  holy 
Lessons  taken  out  of  the  Gospel  and  the  writings  of 
the  Apostles,  of  what  dignity  and  of  how  great  impor- 
tance  this  office  is,  whereunto  ye  are  called.     And 


2  20         NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

now,  again,  we  exhort  you  in  the  Name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  have  in  remembrance,  into  how 
high  a  Dignity,  and  to  how  weighty  an  Office  and 
Charge,  ye  are  called ;  that  is  to  say,  to  be  Messen- 
gers, Watchmen,  and  Stewards  of  the  Lord:  to  teach 
and  to  premonish,  to  feed  and  provide  for  the  Lord's 
family;  to  seek  for  Christ's  sheep  that  are  dispersed 
abroad,  and  for  His  children  who  are  in  the  midst  of 
this  naughty  world  that  they  may  be  saved  through 
Christ  forever. 

•'  Have  always,  therefore,  printed  in  your  remem- 
brance, how  great  a  treasure  is  committed  to  your 
charge.  For  they  are  the  sheep  of  Christ  which  He 
bought  with  His  death,  and  for  whom  He  shed  His 
blood.  The  Church  and  congregation  whom  you 
must  serve  is  His  Spouse  and  His  Body.  And 
if  it  shall  happen  that  the  same  Church  or  any  mem- 
ber thereof  do  take  any  hurt  or  hindrance  by  reason 
of  your  negligence,  ye  know  the  greatness  of  the 
fault  and  also  the  horrible  punishment  that  will  ensue. 
Wherefore,  consider  with  yourselves,  the  end  of  the 
ministry  toward  the  children  of  God,  toward  the 
Spouse  and  Body  of  Christ,  and  see  that  ye  never 
cease  your  labor,  your  care  and  diligence,  until  ye 
have  done  all  that  lieth  in  you,  according  to  your 
bounden  duty,  to  bring  all  such  as  are  or  shall  be 
committed  to  your  charge,  unto  that  agreement  with 
faith  and  knowledge  of  God,  and  to  that  ripeness  and 
perfectness  of  age  in  Christ,  that  there  be  no  place 
left  among  you,  either  for  error  in  religion,  or  for 
viciousness  of  life."  ^ 

1  See  Service  for  the  Ordering  of  Priests,  in  the  Prayer  Book. 


CHRISTIAN    SACERDOTALISM  221 


VII 

This  brings  us  to  our  last  point,  the  power  of 
the  Priesthood. 

The  real  power  of  the  Priesthood,  as  interpreted  by 
Christ,  is  the  greatest  power  that  can  be  wielded  by 
mortal  man.  It  is  the  irresistible  influence  of  self- 
sacrifice.  And  as  self-sacrifice  is  the  law  of  love,  it 
is  the  power  of  a  divine  love  and  a  great  desire  to 
bless,  infused  into  human  hearts  through  Christ. 
*'  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  My  disciples 
...  if  ye  love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you." 
By  virtue  of  this  love,  the  whole  Church  becomes 
a  race  of  kings,  of  leaders,  of  priests.  By  virtue  of 
Christ's  indwelling  and  their  capacity  of  loving  and 
sacrificing  themselves  for  others,  all  devout  believers 
become  partakers  of  the  priestly  life  with  its  priestly 
power. 

And  if  so,  the  ordained  ministry  who  are  called  by 
their  ofifice  to  be  both  ministers  of  the  Priesthood  of 
Christ,  and  ministers  of  the  priesthood  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,  are  doubly  called  to  a  life  of  self-sacrifice. 
Never  will  they  rise  to  the  ideal  of  Christian  priest- 
hood until  they  take  to  themselves  that  message  which 
Christ  sent  from  Heaven  when  St.  Paul  was  called, 
"  For  I  will  show  him  how  great  things  he  must  sufTer 
for  My  Name's  sake  "  ;  ^  never  can  they  hope  to  follow 
that  ideal,  until,  in  their  personal  lives,  they  bear 
patiently  and  uncomplainingly  with  the  sinfulness 
and  ignorance  of  human  hearts,  manifesting  that 
quality  of  charity  which  sufifereth  long,  envieth  not, 
1  Acts  ix.  1 6. 


2  22  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

vaunteth  not  itself,  thinketh  no  evil,  rejoiceth  not  in 
iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth;  which  beareth 
all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  en- 
dureth  all  things ;  never  can  they  exercise  the  real 
power  of  that  priesthood,  unless  self-sacrifice  be- 
comes the  ruling  idea  and  spirit  of  their  lives,  spur- 
ring them  onward  in  season  and  out  of  season,  and  at 
times  when  all  others  would  fail,  to  do  what  their 
Office  requires  of  them ;  to  be  faithful  stewards  of  the 
mysteries  of  God,  and  unceasingly  to  deny  self,  in 
the  service  of  that  Master  Who,  for  the  joy  that  was 
set  before  Him,  endured  the  cross,  despising  the 
shame,  and  is  set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
throne  of  God. 

How  utterly  at  variance,  this  truth  stands  with 
popular,  prevalent  conceptions  of  priestly  power, 
priestly  ambition,  priest-craft  and  self-seeking  in 
every  form,  we  leave  the  reader  to  ponder  and  see 
for  himself. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH 

WHICH  comes  first,  the  Church  or  the  New 
Testament?  Which  is  the  highest  standard 
of  authority,  and  which  the  ultimate  court  of  appeal 
for  the  Christian  world  ? 

These  are  questions  that  are  being  mooted  on 
all  sides  now.  Some  affirm  and  earnestly  believe 
that  the  Bible  alone,  apart  from  the  Church,  is  the 
divinely  appointed  fountain  of  authority;  while 
others  just  as  firmly  assert  that,  as  the  Primitive 
Church  existed  many  years  before  the  first  book  of 
the  New  Testament  was  written,  therefore  the 
authority  of  the  Church  of  Christ  exceeds  that  of 
the  Bible  itself.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  neither  can 
prove  their  point;  because,  for  the  credentials  of 
the  Bible,  we  are  forced  to  fall  back  upon  the  history 
of  the  Church;  while  for  the  credentials  of  the 
Church,  we  are  equally  forced  to  fall  back  upon 
the  Bible.  Each  side,  therefore,  by  undervaluing 
one  of  these  sources  of  authority,  is  unconsciously 
weakening  its  own  position. 

The  adversaries  of  Christianity  are  fond  of  as- 
serting that,  under  these  conditions.  Christians  are 
obliged  to  argue  in  a  circle,  proving  the  authority 
of  the  Bible  by  that  of  the  Church,  and,  conversely, 
the  authority  of  the  Church  by  that  of  the  Bible. 


2  24  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

So  far  from  denying  the  charge,  we  are  eager  to 
confess  its  truth ;  for  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  impos- 
sible to  separate  the  Bible  from  the  Church.  They 
stand  or  fall  together.  They  do  not  set  before  us, 
as  so  many  suppose,  two  standards  of  appeal.  They 
constitute  together  one  united  basis  of  authority ;  and 
the  reason  for  this  becomes  evident  at  once,  when 
we  go  back  to  the  origin  of  the  New  Testament. 

Before  the  days  when  there  was  either  a  Church  or 
a  Bible,  the  Risen  Christ  gave  His  Great  Commis- 
sion to  His  Apostles.  The  words  of  that  charge,  as 
rendered  by  St.  Matthew,  were:  "All  authority 
hath  been  given  unto  Me  in  Heaven  and  on  earth. 
Go  ye  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  the 
nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  Name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost : 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I 
have  commanded  you :  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world. " 

As  given  by  St.  Mark,  the  charge  was :  "  Go  ye 
into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
whole  creation.  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized 
shall  be  saved ;  but  he  that  disbelieveth  shall  be  con- 
demned."  Remembering  that  all  nations  are  made 
disciples,  or  members  of  the  Church,  by  baptism,  we 
should  take  note  that,  in  this  commission,  the  min- 
istry of  the  Word  and  Baptism  —  the  Gospel  message 
and  the  founding  of  the  Church  —  stand  side  by  side. 
However  St.  Mark's  report  may  differ  in  other 
respects  from  St.  Matthew's,  this  fundamental  prin- 
ciple appears  in  both,  and,  after  Pentecost,  the 
same  principle  stands  out  as  one  of  the  marked 
characteristics  of  New  Testament  Christianity.     The 


THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH  225 

chief  care  of  the  Apostles,  as  they  went  forth  estab- 
lishing churches  in  various  parts  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  was  to  be  faithful  witnesses  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  the  world,  by  preaching,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  the  facts  of  Pfis  life,  and  receiving  into  the 
Church  by  baptism  those  who  believed.  And  so 
unswerving  was  their  fidelity  to  this  Gospel  mes- 
sage, that  St.  Paul  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  to  the 
Galatians:  "Though  we,  or  an  angel  from  Heaven, 
preach  any  other  Gospel  unto  you,  ...  let  him  be 
accursed." ^ 

Within  twenty-five  years  after  St.  Paul  uttered 
these  words,  three  of  the  four  Gospels  were  written. 
And  internal  evidence  clearly  shows  that  this  was 
the  ultimate  method  which  the  founders  of  the 
Church  adopted  for  perpetuating  their  witness  for 
Christ  and  His  Resurrection  after  they  should  be 
dead  and  gone,  and  for  handing  down  to  succeeding 
generations  that  primitive  Gospel  which  they  had 
heretofore  imparted  by  word  of  mouth. 

At  the  same  time,  they  wrote  other  documents 
which  are  just  as  important.  The  Gospels  set  forth 
the  life  of  Christ  in  this  world  before  His  ascen- 
sion to  Heaven,  and  then  end  abruptly.  The  very 
suddenness  with  which  the  story  is  broken  off,  and 
the  sense  of  incompleteness  which  every  reader 
feels,  when  he  reaches  the  last  verse,  shows  that  this 
is  not  the  end  of  the  Gospel  history  itself.  The 
abruptness  was  intentional;  the  Revelation  was  to 
be  continued;  and  when  we  search  for  that  continua- 
tion, we  find  it  in  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment.    The  Gospels  contain  the  message  of  the  Son 

1  Gal.  i.  8. 
IS 


226  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

of  Man  to  His  followers  while  He  was  yet  on  earth. 
The  Epistles  proclaim  the  message  of  the  Son  of 
Man,  sent  down  by  ?Iim  to  His  Church  after  He 
had  ascended  to  Heaven,  and  after  all  power  had 
been  given  to  Him  in  Heaven  and  on  earth. 

We  behold,  therefore,  in  the  writers  of  the 
Epistles,  — only  in  far  greater  degree,  — the  same 
unique,  psychological  phenomenon  that  is  to  be 
observed  in  the  ancient  prophets  of  Israel.  For 
where  the  prophets  cry,  with  a  certainty  that  sur- 
passes ordinary  human  knowledge,  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord,"  the  Apostles,  in  their  writings  after  Pente- 
cost, not  only  deliver  the  messages  that  Christ  sends 
down  through  them,  but  proclaim,  with  united  and 
unfaltering  voice,  a  doctrine  of  the  ascended  and 
victorious  Christ  which  must  be  true,  if  Christ  is  on 
the  right  hand  of  God,  yet  which  is  far  in  advance 
of  the  teachings  of  the  Gospels  themselves. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  fact,  that  here  was  a  reve- 
lation of  Christ  in  Heaven  sent  through,  and  ex- 
clusively through,  the  Church  on  earth,  we  have 
before  us  the  reason  why  the  Church  and  the  New 
Testament  mutually  depend  upon  one  another  for 
their  credentials. 

Again,  just  as  the  teachings  of  Christ  in  the 
Gospels  are  enforced  and  illustrated  by  His  human 
example,  so  the  doctrine  taught  by  the  Apostles, 
through  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is 
enforced  and  illustrated  by  the  example  of  the 
Primitive  Church. 

On  the  one  hand,  if  we  would  trace  the  results  of 
the  Gospel  history,  we  shall  find  them  in  the 
Church;  on  the  other  hand,   if  we  would   discover 


THE.  BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH  22/ 

the  practice  of  the  early  Church  and  the  creed  held 
by  the  Apostles,  we  must  go  to  the  records  of  the 
New  Testament. 

The  New  Testament  is  thus  not  only  a  witness 
for  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  but  a  witness  for  the  Faith 
of  the  early  Apostolic  Church  ;  and  this  accounts  for 
the  position  it  has  occupied  through  all  subsequent 
days.  We  can  see  traces  even  in  the  writings  of 
Ignatius,  the  disciple  of  St.  John,  of  the  kind  of 
influence  it  afterwards  exerted;  and  in  the  days 
of  the  General  Councils  it  was  enthroned,  as  a  sign 
that  the  written  Word  of  God  was  the  supreme 
authority  to  which  all  bowed.  Indeed  this  deep 
reverence  for  the  Scriptures  appears  to  have  been 
universal  at  that  time,  for  in  the  oldest  church  of 
Ravenna,  built  a  century  after  the  Council  of  Nice, 
the  ancient  mosaics  represent  four  altars  with  the 
open  books  of  the  Gospels,  and  thrones  with  crosses. 

Let  us  now  pass  to  some  other  noteworthy  facts. 

In  the  Primitive  Church  the  love  for  the  Bible 
was  so  great  that,  although  in  that  early  day  printing 
was  not  invented  and  Bible  societies  were  unknown. 
Holy  Scripture  was  translated  for  Parthians  and 
Medes  and  Elamites;  for  the  dwellers  in  Meso- 
potamia, in  Pontus  and  Asia,  in  Phrygia  and 
Pamphylia,  and  for  every  people  that  had  been  con- 
verted to  Christianity.  Eusebius  tells  us  that  it 
was  studied  by  all  nations  throughout  the  world,  as 
the  Oracles  of  God.  Chrysostom  assures  us  that 
the  Egyptians,  the  Indians,  the  Persians,  and  the 
Ethiopians  translated  the  Bible  into  their  own 
tongues,  "whereby  barbarians  learned  to  be  philoso- 
phers,  and  women  and  children,   with  the  greatest 


2  28  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCIIMANSHIP 

ease,  imbibed  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel."  Theo- 
doret  says  that  every  nation  under  Heaven  had  the 
Scriptures  in  their  own  tongue ;  and  St.  Jerome  and 
St.  Augustine  affirm  the  same. 

Again,  Bingham  assures  us  that  it  was  a  custom 
of  the  Primitive  Church  to  place  Bibles,  translated 
into  the  vulgar  tongue,  in  various  parts  of  the 
churches  for  the  people  to  read;  and  Constantine 
ordered  fifty  copies  of  the  Scriptures  to  be  thus  dis- 
tributed and  used  in  the  Church  of  Constantinople. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  people  were  not  only 
encouraged,  but  earnestly  exhorted,  to  read  the  Bible 
at  their  homes  and  with  their  families;  and  Chrys- 
ostom  has  a  sermon  upon  the  necessity  of  Bible 
reading,  even  by  the  lowly  and  uncultivated,  which 
might  have  been  preached  from  an  American  pulpit 
in  the  nineteenth,  instead  of  from  a  Greek  pulpit 
in  the  fourth  century.  Even  children  from  their 
infancy  were  trained  in  the  reading  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  in  learning  different  passages  by 
heart.  The  Bible  was  the  first  study  of  Origen 
and  Eusebius  in  their  childhood.  Gregory  of 
Nyssa  tells  the  same  story  of  his  sister  Macrina 
and  his  brother  Peter;  it  was  even  taught  to  the 
children  of  charity  schools  in  the  early  Church ;  and 
when  Gregory,  the  Apostle  of"  the  Armenians,  went 
forth  to  convert  that  nation,  he  set  up,  by  the  king's 
command,  schools  in  every  city  to  teach  the  Arme- 
nian children  to  read  the  Word  of  God. 

Such  was  the  use  and  influence  of  the  Bible  in 
the  Primitive  Church,  down  to  the  day  when  St. 
Jerome  completed  his  translation  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament  from   the   original   Hebrew.     This  was  be- 


THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH  229 

tween  the  years  400  and  404  A.  d.  In  less  than  ten 
years  from  that  time  Alaric  the  Goth  captured 
Rome;  and  thenceforward,  in  the  Providence  of 
God,  new  problems  were  before  the  Church,  the 
solution  of  which  would  engross  attention  for  many 
a  coming  century.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  Westcott, 
Bishop  of  Durham  :  "The  normal  processes  of  Chris- 
tianity were  in  abeyance;  organization  prevailed 
over  faith,  and  these  new  races  were  to  be  disci- 
plined by  act,  before  they  could  be  taught  the  simple 
word.  The  Latin  translation  of  the  Vulgate  sufficed 
for  the  teachers;  and  they  ministered  to  their  con- 
gregations such  lessons  from  it  as  they  could  re- 
ceive." These  irruptions  of  the  wild  barbarians 
from  the  north,  for  the  next  three  or  four  centuries, 
—  of  Goths  and  Vandals,  Huns  and  Lombards  and 
Norsemen,  Danes  and  Angles  and  Saxons,  —  are  an 
explanation,  not  only  of  this  suspended  activity, 
but  of  many  others  of  the  Church  during  the  Mid- 
dle Ages.  But  as  soon  as  society  became  settled 
and  Christianized  the  old  instincts  reappeared;  and, 
strange  to  say,  it  was  not  in  Greece  or  in  Asia 
Minor,  but  in  the  far-off  Islands  of  Great  Britain, 
that  those  features  of  the  Primitive  Church  which 
had  been  almost  lost  began  most  strongly  to  reassert 
themselves. 

Among  these  was  the  intense  desire  to  have  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  distributed 
among  the  people.  In  the  eighth  century,  the  Book 
of  Psalms  was  translated,  probably  by  Aldhelm, 
Bishop  of  Sherbourne,  into  Anglo-Saxon;  and  about 
the  same  time  the  Venerable  Bede,  during  his  last 
illness,  translated  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.     In  the 


230  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

ninth  century,  King  Alfred  prefixed  to  the  laws  of 
the  realm  an  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments; and  about  a  century  later,  the  four 
Gospels  were  translated,  probably  for  public  use 
in  the  services  of  the  Church  and  among  the 
people.  Then  came  the  Norman  invasion,  which 
was  another  set-back.  But  all  through  the  subse- 
quent period,  the  ancient  Church  in  the  British 
Isles  kept  struggling  for  the  mastery,  with  more  or 
less  success,  against  the  novelties  of  Papal  Mediae- 
valism.  And  as  generation  after  generation  passed 
by,  we  can  detect  the  old  love  for  the  Word  of 
God  continuously  smouldering  in  human  hearts.  At 
last  John  Wickliffe,  a  learned  priest  of  the  English 
Church,  and  Master  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford,  felt 
the  God-given  responsibility  resting  upon  him,  of 
rendering  the  New  Testament  into  the  English 
tongue;  while  his  friend,  Nicholas  de  Hereford, 
undertook  the  similar  task  of  translating  the  Old 
Testament.  Amid  ceaseless  opposition  and  misun- 
derstanding, they  completed  their  work.  So  that 
Wickliffe,  who  was  now  Vicar  of  Lutterworth,  had 
the  joy  of  seeing  his  life's  task  accomplished  before 
he  died,  in  1384. 

Within  two  generations,  or  scarcely  more  than 
sixty  years  after  the  death  of  Wickliffe,  the  printing 
press  was  invented.  The  first  book  of  any  size 
printed  was  Gutenberg's  Latin  Bible;  and  by  the 
time  that  America  was  discovered,  in  1492,  Bibles 
were  printed  in  Spanish,  Italian,  French,  Dutch, 
German,  and  Bohemian.  England  had,  as  yet, 
only  the  manuscript  copies  of  Wickliffe's  transla- 
tion ;  and  we  can,  without  doubt,  trace  the  delay  of 


THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH  23 1 

the  English  people  in  securing  a  new  translation 
to  the  power  and  influence  of  this  older  version. 
But  soon  another  man  arose,  William  Tyndale  by 
name,  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the  Vicar  of  Lutter- 
worth in  his  desire  to  place  an  English  Bible  in 
the  hands  of  the  people.  Like  Wickliffe  he  was  a 
graduate  of  Oxford,  a  priest  of  the  English  Church, 
and  a  man  in  many  ways  eminently  fitted  to  con- 
tinue Wickliffe' s  work;  though  by  certain  eccen- 
tricities and  peculiar  opinions,  he  awakened  the 
antagonism  of  Tunstall,  Bishop  of  London,  and  lost 
the  confidence  of  other  authorities  in  the  Church. 

Tyndale's  translation  was  printed  and  circulated 
in  1525;  and  it  produced  a  profound  effect  on  the 
popular  mind.  Lideed,  so  great  was  the  change  of 
feeling  in  England  within  the  next  ten  years  that 
although  Tyndale  himself  was  martyred,  a  convoca- 
tion of  the  Church  of  England,  under  the  presidency 
of  Thomas  Cranmer,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
agreed  to  petition  the  king  that  he  would  "Vouch- 
safe to  decree  that  a  translation  of  the  Scriptures 
into  English  should  be  made  by  certain  honest  and 
learned  men  whom  the  king  should  nominate,  and 
that  the  translation  so  m.ade  should  be  delivered  to 
the  people  for  their  learning."  In  the  same  year,  or 
certainly  within  the  next.  Miles  Coverdale's  Bible 
appeared,  with  his  own  name,  as  the  Bishop  of 
Exeter,  on  the  title-page,  and  with  an  open  dedica- 
tion to  King  Henry  VIII.  It  is  significant  that 
although  Coverdale's  Bible  was  without  the  sanction 
of  the  civil  authority,  it  was  never  suppressed ; 
showing  that  there  was  no  opposition  in  England, 
even  in  those  early  days,  to  a  translation  made  by 


232  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

competent   hands  and   set   forth    under  the  seal    of 
authority. 

Events  now  follow  one  another  in  rapid    succes- 
sion.     In    1537,   ''Matthew's"  or  "Rogers'   Bible" 
was  issued;    in   1539,   "Taverner's  Bible";   and  in 
1540,   and  in  the  following   years,   appeared  in  six 
successive  editions,  the  "Great  Bible,"  with  a  pref- 
ace  by  Cranmer,    Archbishop   of    Canterbury;    and 
also   with  the  name  on  the  title-page  of   Tunstall, 
that    same  Bishop   of  London  who  had  before  con- 
demned and  burned  the  very  Bible  of  Tyndale  upon 
which  this  translation  was  founded.      About  twenty 
years  after  this  appeared  "The  Bishops'  Bible,"   set 
forth  to  be  used  in  the  cathedrals  and  churches  of 
England  by  order  of  the  Convocation.      In  1604,  or 
two  generations  after  Tyndale,   King  James,  yield- 
ing to  the  pressure  of  public  religious  opinion,  re- 
sponded, to  the  old  request  of  Archbishop  Cranmer 
and  Convocation,  "that  a  translation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures into  English  should  be  made  by  certain  honest 
and  learned  men  whom  the  king  (of  England)  should 
nominate;"  and  at  last  authorized  a  competent  com- 
pany of  scholars  in  the  Church  of  England  to  pre- 
pare a  new  version   of   the    English    Bible.      They 
completed    their   work    after    seven  years    of  labor, 
setting  forth,   in   161 1,  that  commonly  called  "Au- 
thorized Version  "  which  we  all  know  so  well.      In 
1870,    two    hundred   and    fifty  years   afterward,   the 
Convocation  of  Canterbury  organized  another  com- 
pany  of    revisers   for    still    another    translation    of 
the  Bible,  and  this  Revision  was  finished,  the  New 
Testament  in  1880,  and  the  Old  Testament  in  1884. 
On  the  title-page  of  both  these  last  versions,  we 


THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH  233 

read  that  "  they  ivcre  diligently  revised  and  compared 
with  former  translations.  "  The  key  to  those  familiar 
words  is  before  us  in  the  events  we  have  been 
recounting.  Looking  back  over  the  long  period 
of  English  Church  history,  from  the  Venerable 
Bede  to  the  present  time,  embracing  an  era  of  over 
eleven  hundred  years,  we  behold  the  gradual  evolu- 
tion of  the  English  Bible,  as  age  followed  age,  and 
its  final  culmination  in  the  Revised  Version.  All 
these  successive  translations  we  have  named  were 
made  by  devout  bishops,  priests,  and  scholars  of 
the  Church  of  England,  while  the  last  two  —  the 
Authorized  and  Revised  Versions  —  were  made 
directly  under  the  appointment  of  the  Church  it- 
self. When  we  read,  therefore,  the  history  of  that 
English  Bible  which  is  now  exercising  such  an 
irresistible  religious  influence  over  the  English- 
speaking  nations  of  the  world,  and  see  how,  from 
beginning  to  end,  it  was  directly  due  to  the  Eng- 
lish Church  itself,  can  we  marvel  that  belief  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures  "as  containing  all  things  necessary 
to  salvation,  and  as  the  rule  and  ultimate  standard 
of  faith,"  has  been  set  forth  by  the  last  two  Lambeth 
Conferences  as  one  of  the  four  essential  conditions 
for  the  reunion  of  Christendom  .^  Many  as  are  the 
points  of  similarity  between  the  Anglican  Com- 
munion of  to-day  and  the  early  Church  of  Apostolic 
times,  the  Church  in  the  post-apostolic  age,  the 
Church  in  the  age  of  Augustine  and  Chrysostom,  of 
Jerome  and  Athanasius,  there  is  none  more  marked, 
or  more  characteristic  of  the  continuity  of  Christian 
thought,  than  this  English  and  American  love  and 
reverence  for  the   Bible. 


2  34  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  actual  conditions  as  they 
exist  at  present.  Thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  and 
within  the  memory  of  many  of  us,  the  oft-repeated 
and  ignorant  charge  was  hurled  against  the  Anglican 
Church  that  it  placed  the  Prayer  Book  above  the 
Bible  itself;  while,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  all  through 
the  past  three  centuries  there  has  been  no  other 
church  or  Christian  body  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
which  enjoins  by  rule  upon  all  the  people  so  con- 
stant a  perusal  of  Holy  Scripture. 

Three  fourths  of  the  Prayer  Book  itself  are  in  the 
exact  words  of  the  Bible;  and  if  its  order  for  daily 
Morning  and  Evening  Prayer  is  followed  by  parish 
churches  in  public  services,  or  by  individuals  in 
private,  the  Old  Testament  will  be  read  through 
once,  the  New  Testament  twice,  and  the  Book  of 
Psalms  twelve  times  every  year.  For  those  who 
have  not  the  time  or  the  inclination  to  use  the  whole 
of  the  daily  Morning  and  Evening  Prayer,  there  is  a 
Table  of  Lessons  in  the  beginning  of  the  Prayer  Book 
indicating  how  they  may  read  the  four  daily  chap- 
ters of  the  Bible  privately  at  home. 

In  addition  to  this,  at  the  very  commencement  of 
the  Christian  year,  there  is  a  Sunday  which,  as  Dr. 
Liddon  well  said,  might  appropriately  be  called 
Bible  Sunday;  and  if  any  one  is  disposed  to 
charge  the  Church  of  England  with  being  adverse 
to  the  translation  and  circulation  of  the  Bible  in 
Reformation  times,  we  have  a  direct  witness  to  the 
contrary  in  that  beautiful  collect  of  the  Second 
Sunday  in   Advent :  — 

"Blessed  Lord,  who  hast  caused  all  Holy  Script- 
ures to  be  written  for  our  learning,   grant  that  we 


THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH  235 

may  .  .  .  read,  mark,  learn,  and  inwardly  digest 
them."  The  significance  of  this  collect  becomes  all 
the  greater  when  we  remember  that  it  was  in  the 
First  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI.,   in   1549. 

Anglican  love  of  the  Bible  comes  out  even  with 
greater  prominence  when  we  turn  to  the  Ordination 
Services  of  the  Prayer  Book.  In  one  respect  these 
are  the  most  significant  of  all,  for  it  is  at  these  times 
that  the  Church  commits  to  chosen  and  tried  men 
the  awful  responsibility  of  being  her  teachers  in 
things  pertaining  to  God.  In  the  Ordination  of 
Deacons  the  questions  are  asked  of  the  ordinandi 
"Do  you  firmly  believe  all  the  Canonical  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  will  you  dili- 
gently read  the  same  to  the  people }  "  And  imme- 
diately after  his  ordination,  a  copy  of  the  New 
Testament  is  placed  in  his  hand,  with  the  charge  to 
read  the  Gospel  in  the  Church  of  God.  In  the  Ordi- 
nation of  Priests  a  greater  emphasis  still  is  laid  upon 
the  belief  in  Holy  Scriptures  as  containing  all  doc- 
trines necessary  to  salvation;  upon  the  necessity  of 
instructing  the  people  out  of  the  same  Scriptures; 
upon  the  duty  of  banishing  and  driving  away  all 
erroneous  and  strange  doctrines  contrary  to  God's 
Holy  Word.  In  the  Roman  Church  the  sacred 
Communion  vessels  are  placed  in  the  ordinand's 
hand  at  the  time  of  ordination;  in  the  Anglican 
Church  a  copy  of  the  Bible  is  substituted  for  the 
chalice  and  paten,  immediately  after  the  laying  on  of 
hands,  with  the  accompanying  charge :  "  Be  thou  a 
faithful  dispenser  of  the  Word  of  God  and  of  His 
Holy  Sacraments."  So  also,  in  the  service  for 
the  Consecration   of  a  Bishop,   one  Jialf  of   all  the 


236  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

questions  addressed  to  the  person  to  be  consecrated 
relate  to  the  doctrine,  authority,  sufficiency,  disci- 
pline, rule  of  faith  and  of  life  set  forth  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures;  and  after  the  consecration  of  the  newly 
ordained  bishop,  a  copy  of  the  Bible  is  handed  him 
with  a  most  solemn  charge.  Thus  carefully  has  the 
Church  provided  that  no  deacon,  priest,  or  bishop 
shall  minister  at  her  altars  without  being  trained 
in  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible  and  moulded  by  Holy 
Scripture.  All  her  ministers  are  obliged  to  pledge 
themselves,  in  God's  Presence,  to  be  obedient  and 
loyal  to  His  Holy  Word,  before  they  are  admitted 
to  the  privilege  of  teaching  in  the  Church's  name. 

We  find  also  in  the  Ordinal  a  marked  emphasis 
laid  upon  the  necessity  of  preaching  the  Word.  The 
Word  and  the  Ministry  of  the  Word  stand  together  in 
close  connection.  The  Prayer  Book  gives  no  uncer- 
tain sound  regarding  the  character  of  the  sermons  that 
the  Church  expects  her  ordained  servants  to  deliver. 
Just  as  they  are  sent  forth  to  '*  minister  the  sacra- 
ments" of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  in  such  a 
way  that  the  people  will  understand  and  be  blessed 
and  grow  in  grace  through  these  divinely  appointed 
channels  wherein  Christ  imparts  His  life  to  the 
souls  of  men,  so  are  they  sent  forth  to  ''minister  the 
Word "  in  such  a  way  that  the  people  will  under- 
stand and  be  blessed  and  grow  in  grace  through  the 
Gospel,  which  is  the  good  news  which  Christ 
brought  down  with  Him  from  Heaven,  and  of  which 
He  said:  *' If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and  My  words  abide 
in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will  and  it  shall  be 
done  unto  you.  Herein  is  My  Father  glorified,  that 
ye  bear  much  fruit;  so  shall  ye  be  My  disciples."^ 

1  St.  John  XV.  7,  8. 


THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH  237 

The  Prayer  Book  embodies  the  Christian  experi- 
ence of  the  ages,  and  it  is  part  of  that  experience 
that  the  Ministry  of  the  Word  has  a  peculiar  kind 
of  spiritual  power  that  is  absolutely  necessary 
for  growth  in  grace.  Listen  how  earnestly  and 
solemnly  the  Church  exhorts  those  who  are  to  be 
ordained  to  her  priesthood,  with  reference  to  this 
subject.  "Forasmuch  then  as  your  Office  is  both 
of  so  great  excellency,  and  of  so  great  difficulty,  .  .  . 
ye  ought,  and  have  need,  to  pray  earnestly  for  God's 
Holy  Spirit.  And  seeing  that  ye  cannot,  by  any 
other  means,  compass  the  doing  of  so  weighty  a 
work  pertaining  to  the  salvation  of  man  but  with 
doctrine  and  exhortation  taken  out  of  the  Holy 
Scripture,  and  with  a  life  agreeable  to  the  same, 
consider  how  studious  ye  ought  to  be  in  reading 
and  learning  the  Scriptures,  and  in  framing  the 
manners  both  of  yourselves  and  of  them  that 
specially  pertain  unto  you,  according  to  the  rule  of 
the  same  Scriptures;  and  for  this  self-same  cause, 
how  ye  ought  to  forsake  and  set  aside,  as  much  as 
ye  may,  all  worldly  cares  and  studies,  .  .  .  that  by 
daily  reading  and  weighing  the  Scriptures  ye  may 
wax  riper  and  stronger  in  your  Ministry." 

Similarly  in  the  Office  for  the  Consecration  of 
Bishops,  among  the  questions  asked  of  the  bishop 
elect  is  the  following:  "Will  you  then  faithfully 
exercise  yourself  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  call 
upon  God  by  prayer  for  the  true  understanding  of 
the  same,  so  that  you  may  be  able  by  them  to  teach 
and  exhort  with  wholesome  Doctrine,  and  to  with- 
stand and  convince  the  gainsayers  ?  "  Then  when  the 
Bible  is  delivered  into  his  hands  by  the  consecrator, 


238  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

it  is  with  the  solemn  charge:  "Give  heed  unto  read- 
ing, exhortation,  and  doctrine.  Think  upon  the 
things  contained  in  this  Book.  Be  diligent  in 
them,  that  the  increase  coming  thereby  may  be 
manifest  unto  all  men;  for  by  so  doing  thou  shalt 
both  save  thyself  and  them  that  hear  thee." 

What  the  Church  means  by  the  "  Ministry  of  the 
Word  "  is  here  plainly  set  forth.  Her  clergy  are  not 
merely  to  preach  from  Bible  texts  or  upon  Bible 
themes,  but  they  are  to  be  "mighty  in  the 
Scriptures." 

The  mere  delivery  of  a  sermon  upon  some  Scripture 
topic,  the  thoughts  of  which  have  been  culled  from 
historical,  literary,  or  scientific  sources  on  the  one 
hand,  or  evolved  from  the  active  brain  of  the  preacher 
on  the  other,  is  aside  from  the  Church's  purpose. 
However  captivating  in  literary  style,  finished  in 
oratorical  delivery,  or  original  in  treatment  such  a 
sermon  may  be,  it  is  poverty-stricken  and  thin, 
according  to  this  high  standard,  if  it  does  not  draw 
from  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  Its  polished 
elegance  is  but  a  makeshift  to  cover  up  the  preacher's 
ignorance  of  the  treasures  stored  away  in  the  Word 
of  God.  Before  her  bishops  and  priests  can  be  true 
ministers  of  the  Word,  they  must  know  the  Scrip- 
tures through  and  through.  The}''  must  make  the 
Bible  their  daily  study.  They  must  "be  diligent  in 
reading  and  learning  the  Scriptures."  They  must 
"draw  all  their  studies  this  way."  They  must 
"think  of  the  things  contained  in  this  Book,  that 
the  increase  coming  thereby  may  be  made  manifest 
to  all  men."  Laying  aside  as  far  as  possible  all 
worldly   cares   and  studies,    they   must   get   at   the 


THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH  239 

inner  spiritual  meaning  of  Christ's  words,  so  that 
"by  daily  reading  and  weighing  the  Scriptures,  they 
may  wax  riper  and  stronger  in  their  ministry." 

In  other  words,  they  must  be  so  imbued  by  the 
Word  of  God,  and  saturated  with  its  spirit,  that 
they  are  full  to  overflowing  with  its  glad  tid- 
ings of  salvation,  feeling  that  they  are  impelled  to 
deliver  to  others  those  messages  which  the  Word  of 
God  puts  into  their  mouths,  and  inspired  by  the 
irresistible  desire  to  impart  to  others  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  love  of  Christ. 

But  there  is  a  still  deeper  reason  for  this  earnest 
emphasis  upon  the  Ministry  of  the  Word.  It  is  not 
only  that  the  Church  of  to-day  may  conform  to  the 
life  and  practice  of  the  Primitive  Church,  but  it  is 
that  her  clergy  may  be  imbued  with  the  very  spirit 
of  New  Testament  Christianity  and  be  ceaselessly 
renewed  by  the  fresh  springs  of  Apostolic  Life.  If 
these  facts  have  not  been  rightly  appreciated  in  the 
past  three  hundred  years  outside  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  it  has  been  because  Protestantism  has  been 
dominated  overmuch  by  Chillingworth's  maxim, 
"The  Bible,  and  the  Bible  only,  is  the  religion  of 
Protestants."  But  now  a  reaction  has  taken  place; 
popular  thought  is  passing  to  the  opposite  extreme; 
and  under  the  influence  of  the  Higher  Criticism, 
thousands  have  lost  their  faith  in  the  Old  Testament 
as  the  inspired  Word  of  God. 

Fifty  years  ago,  in  contrast  with  many  Christian 
bodies  around  her,  the  Anglican  Church  seemed,  to 
the  popular  eye,  to  undervalue  the  Bible,  and  to 
place  it  upon  a  lower  level  than  the  Prayer  Book. 
To-day   it    is  the  exact  reverse;    in  contrast  to  the 


240         NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCMMANSHIP 

present  reaction  in  popular  Christian  thought,  and, 
to  the  disintegrating  process  that  is  going  on  in 
many  Christian  bodies,  the  Anglican  Church  seems 
to  stand  out  as  the  greatest  bulwark  and  defender  of 
the  Bible  which  is  to  be  found  in  all  Western 
Christendom. 

It  is  true  that  some  of  the  greatest  scholars  in 
the  Higher  Criticism  of  the  present  day  are  in  the 
ranks  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England ;  but 
there  is  a  marked  difference  between  these  critics 
of  the  English  Church  and  those  of  Germany,  Hol- 
land, and  elsewhere.  The  kind  of  Higher  Criticism 
which  emphasizes  the  value  of  the  Historic  MetJiod 
of  studying  the  Scriptures;  which  looks  upon  the 
ancient  prophets  of  Israel  as  men,  who,  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  prophesied  primarily  of  the  burn- 
ing issues  of  their  own  times,  and  applied  to  these 
issues  those  universal  principles  of  Gospel  truth 
which  found  a  deeper  fulfilment  in  Messianic  days, 
is  a  kind  of  criticism  which  will  ultimately  increase 
our  love  for  the  Bible  and  make  it  seem  more 
than  ever  the  inspired  Word  of  God.  While  the 
other  and  more  destructive  form  of  criticism  w^hich 
jumps  at  conclusions,  dissolving  historical  facts  into 
legends  and  ancient  biblical  characters  into  myths, 
will  bring  about  exactly  the  opposite  effect.  And 
these  two  effects  are  even  now  manifesting  them- 
selves in  contemporaneous  Christian  history. 

While  the  faith  of  multitudes  is  so  shaken  that 
even  Sunday-school  children  speak  of  the  Scriptures 
with  an  irreverent  freedom  that  would  have  amazed 
preceding  generations,  we  behold  in  the  English 
Church  an  ever-increasing  hunger  and  thirst  to  know 


THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    CHURCH  24 1 

more  about  God's  Holy  Word.  When  the  Speaker's 
Commentary  was  first  published,  about  thirty  years 
ago,  Dean  Plumptre  told  the  writer  that  the  pub- 
lishers were  in  grave  doubt  whether  the  first  edition 
would  ever  be  taken  off  their  hands.  Since  that 
time  many  commentaries  have  been  issued  —  some- 
times four  in  a  single  year;  and  to-day  no  kind  of 
literature  is  more  largely  sought  and  read  among 
English  and  American  Churchmen  than  that  which 
relates  to  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

Such  is  the  condition  of  religious  thought  in  the 
Anglican  Church  at  the  present  time.  Nothing  is 
more  intensely  interesting  than  to  watch  the  effect 
of  modern  criticism  and  Bible  study  upon  the  devo- 
tional life  of  the  Church;  and,  as  it  has  been,  so  it 
will  be  in  the  future,  only  in  greater  degree.  The 
more  the  Church  knows  about  the  Bible  and  drinks 
in  the  spirit  of  New  Testament  life,  the  more  she 
will  discover  the  law  of  her  own  life  and  the  springs 
of  her  own  health ;  for,  to  quote  the  words  of  Canon 
Mason  of  Canterbury :  "  It  must  never  be  forgotten 
that  the  Bible  is  a  Church  Book,  written  for  Church- 
men, under  the  inspiration  of  the  same  Spirit  Who 
is  leading  the  Church,  so  far  as  it  is  willing  to  be 
led,  into  all  truth  and  in  all  truth." 


16 


CHAPTER   XI 

PUBLIC   WORSHIP    IN    NEW   TESTAMENT   DAYS 

IT  is  often  said  that  as  there  is  scarcely  an}/ 
reference  in  the  New  Testament  to  public  wor- 
ship, church  edifices,  or  church  services,  these  acces- 
sories of  the  Christian  religion  cannot  claim  the 
sanction  of  apostolic  or  scriptural  authority;  that 
they  originated  in  a  post-apostolic  age,  and  are  a 
development  of  the  "institutional"  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  Gospel  type  of  religious  life.  But  those 
who  draw  such  a  conclusion  have  not  considered  that 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  as  well  as  most  of  the 
Epistles,  were  written  within  the  first  thirty  years 
after  Pentecost,  when  Christianity  was  still  in  its  in- 
fancy and  when  congregations  were  composed  entirely 
of  fresh  converts,  chiefly  taken  from  the  lowest  ranks 
of  society.  If  there  is  little  said  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment regarding  these  institutions  and  external  ordi- 
nances of  Christianity,  it  is  because  in  this  period 
everything  was  inchoate,  and  in  its  first  formative 
condition.  Yet  enough  is  revealed  to  give  us  a 
very  vivid  glimpse  of  the  religious  observances  and 
habits  of  the  early  Church.  After  Pentecost,  the 
Apostles  and  their  followers  attended  the  Temple 
services  daily.  When  these  were  over,  they  went 
down  to  private  houses,  sometimes  for  "the  Breaking 
of  Bread,"  sometimes  for  united  prayer.^     At  a  later 

1  Acts  ii.  42,  46 ;  iii.  i ;  iv.  23-31 ;  v.  42,  etc. 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      243 

date,  Christians  in  Jerusalem  and  elsewhere  met  in 
those  homes  of  believers  where  prayer  was  wont  to 
be  made;  like  the  house  of  Mary,  the  mother  of 
Mark,^  of  Lydia,^  and  of  Philemon. ^  From  this  we 
learn  that  at  that  very  early  day,  when  there  were 
neither  Gospels  nor  Epistles,  neither  Prayer  Book, 
church  observances,  nor  church  buildings,  the  first 
Christians  (i)  went  up  to  the  Temple  daily  to  pray, 
and  (2)  there  were  regular  meetings  for  "the  Break- 
ing of  Bread. " 

Here  we  have  two  definite  and  important  facts  dis- 
closed regarding  public  worship  in  New  Testament 
times.     Let  us  consider  each  by  itself. 


I 

If  we  go  back  from  the  Book  of  Acts  to  the 
Gospels  themselves,  we  shall  discover  the  reason 
why  Christ's  disciples  frequented  the  Temple  ser- 
vices. We  know  how  our  Lord  loved  the  Temple. 
When  He  was  only  twelve  years  old,  and  His 
sorrowing  parents,  after  searching  for  three  days, 
at  last  found  Him  in  the  Temple,  His  answer  to 
them  was :  "  How  is  it  that  ye  sought  Me }  wist 
ye  not  that  I  must  be  in  My  Father's  House  .^"'^ 
Eighteen  years  afterwards,  when  He  began  His 
public  ministry,  almost  His  first  act  was  to  go  back 
to  the  Temple  and  drive  out  the  money  changers  and 
others,  saying:  "Make  not  My  Father's  House  an 
house  of   merchandise. "  ^     And   finally,  when   that 

1  Acts  xii.  12.  3  p]^i]    2. 

2  Acts  xvi.  40.  4  St.  Luke  ii.  49,  R.  V. 

5  St.  John  ii.  16. 


244  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

ministry  was  over,  in  the  last  week  of  His  earthly 
life,  after  He  had  made  His  triumphal  entry  as 
King  of  the  Jews  into  Jerusalem,  He  once  more 
cleansed  the  Temple.  While  the  blind  and  the 
lame  were  waiting  to  be  healed  by  Him,  and  while 
even  the  little  children  were  singing  in  the  Temple, 
"  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David,"  He  cast  forth  the 
buyers  and  sellers,  crying:  "  It  is  written.  My  House 
shall  be  called  of  all  nations  the  House  of  Pra3'er, 
but  ye  have  made  it  a  den  of  thieves."  ^  The  signi- 
ficance of  this  final  cleansing  is  enhanced  by  the  fact 
that  it  occurred  just  before  Christ  left  the  Temple 
forever,  saying  first  publicly  to  the  Pharisees,  "Be- 
hold your  House  is  left  unto  you  desolate.  For  I  say 
unto  you  that  ye  shall  not  see  Me  henceforth  till  ye 
shall  say,  blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord;"2  and  then  privately  to  His  disciples, 
"Verily,  I  say  unto  you.  There  shall  not  be  left 
here  one  stone  upon  another,  that  shall  not  be 
thrown  down."^  Clearly  the  second  cleansing  and 
the  marked  emphasis  laid  upon  it,  not  only  by  the 
writers  of  the  different  Gospels  but  by  our  Lord 
Himself,  had  a  prophetic,  far-reaching  meaning. 
It  was  a  warning  to  the  Pharisees  of  impending 
judgement  for  the  past;  it  was  also  a  lesson  for  the 
future,  to  be  read  and  remembered  by  the  whole 
Christian  Church  through  coming  ages.  Christ  not 
only  loved  His  Father's  house,  but  called  it  the 
House  of  Prayer;  and  He  had  also  prophetically 
foretold  that  the  time  would  come  when  worship 
like    that    of    the    Jewish   Temple   would    be   uni- 

1  St.  Mark  xi.  17.  2  gt.  Matt,  xxiii.  38,  39. 

3  St.  Matt.  xxiv.  2. 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      245 

versal.^  At  this  time,  when  there  were  not,  and 
would  not  be  for  many  a  long  year  to  come,  any 
Christian  temples  or  houses  of  God,  it  is  note- 
worthy that  our  Lord,  gazing  into  the  far  future, 
should  have  spoken  such  words  of  the  only  House 
of  God  which  His  disciples  in  His  own  lifetime 
knew  and  recognized  as  such.  The  ideal  of  a 
House  of  God  for  all  nations,  of  which  the  Jewish 
temple  was  the  prototype,  and  which  it  failed  so 
sadly  to  fulfil,  was  to  be  attained  in  after  years  in 
the  churches  of  Christian  believers;  and  the  high- 
est realization  of  that  ideal  is  set  forth  by  Christ 
Himself  in  those  memorable  words:  "My  House 
shall  be  called  the  House  of  Prayer  for  all  people." 
He  shows  plainly  here,  both  by  word  and  action, 
how  sacred  every  place  of  Christian  worship  must  be. 
This  simple  conception  of  the  ideal  place  of  worship 
and  its  uses  was  so  high,  so  pure,  so  comprehen- 
sive and  lasting,  that  it  soars  above  and  embraces 
all  those  changes  and  additions  in  the  forms  of 
public  worship,  all  those  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  all  those  hallowed  associa- 
tions and  customs  which  have  enriched  the  service 
of  God  through  subsequent  ages.  It  would  be  well 
if  we  could  apply  this  ruling  idea  of  New  Testa- 
ment Churchmanship  to  our  modern  Church  life. 
There  are  in  every  congregation  numbers  of  earnest- 
hearted  men  and  women  w^ho  are  secretly  hunger- 
ing and  thirsting  that  their  parish  church  may 
become  more  and  more  of  a  spiritual  home  to  them- 
selves and  to  their  families.  Often  both  pastor 
and  people  are  disappointed  that  there  is  so  little  of 

1  St.  John  iv.  21-23. 


246  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

the  homelike  atmosphere  in  their  church ;  yet  they 
•are  unable  to  point  out  exactly  why  it  is  that  the 
services    seem   so  perfunctory  and  cold. 

If  all  would  only  take  more  earnest  heed  to  the 
prophetic  charge  of  Christ  at  His  second  cleansing 
of  the  Temple,  these  unsatisfied  longings  would  be 
met  and  all  coldness  would  disappear. 

From  the  time  a  congregation  begin  really  to 
treat  their  Father  in  Heaven  as  a  Living  Person, 
and  to  make  their  Father's  House  a  House  of  Prayer, 
the  consciousness  of  their  Father's  Presence  and  of 
a  home  atmosphere  in  the  sanctuary  will  naturally 
follow. 

This  intimate  connection  between  prayer  and  the 
home  feeling  is,  in  fact,  so  simple  and  so  much  a 
matter  of  universal  Christian  experience,  that  it  is 
self-evident  to  all  devout  minds.  The  moment  a  man 
prays  in  God's  house,  he  begins  to  feel  that  some- 
how it  belongs  to  him.  It  becomes  a  spiritual  home 
to  him  at  once,  because  he  has  used  it  as  such. 
What,  therefore,  our  modern  congregations  need 
most  of  all  is  to  be  taught  to  pray. 

In  God's  own  House  of  Prayer,  secondary  things  are 
often  put  first.  Either  the  ritual  or  the  sermon,  the 
architecture  or  the  music,  is  the  first  consideration, 
while  the  prayers  of  the  people  and  the  inward  lifting 
up  of  their  hearts  in  acts  of  faith  —  in  confession,  and 
thanksgiving,  in  intercession  and  praise  —  are  treated 
as  of  secondary  importance.  Earnest,  eloquent  ser- 
mons, a  correct  and  reverent  ritual,  stately  ecclesi- 
astical edifices,  and  carefully  trained  choirs,  are  all 
important  adjuncts  to  a  perfectly  appointed  service; 
but  their  place,  after  all,  is  a  subordinate  one.     The 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      247 

inward  requires  the  outward  for  its  expression,  but 
the  inward  must  never  be  sacrificed  to  the  outward. 
The  one  thing  needful  to  sanctify  the  whole  is 
prayer.  If  Christ  said,  "  My  House  shall  be  called 
the  House  of  Prayer,"  it  was  because  those  things 
which  prayer  stands  for  —  repentance,  faith,  obedi- 
ence, charity,  the  determination  to  lead  a  new  life 
—  become,  in  prayer,  the  highest  and  most  essential 
acts  of  Christian  sacrifice.  These  are  the  realities 
of  Christian  service.  If  they  are  sincerely  felt,  the 
outward  expression  of  this  spirit  of  sacrifice  becomes 
a  necessity;  but  if  there  is  the  outward  expression 
alone,  in  ritual  or  homily,  while  the  spirit  is 
absent,  the  whole  congregation,  by  a  true  spiritual 
instinct,  will  detect  that  absence. 

As  the  old  Romans  had  their  Lares  and  Penates, 
or  household  gods,  who  were  present  in  the  house 
so  long  as  it  was  occupied  by  the  family;  as 
we  know,  almost  intuitively,  when  we  enter  a 
house,  or  even  one  of  its  rooms,  whether  the 
family  are  wont  to  frequent  and  use  it  or  not,  so  is 
it,  only  in  greater  degree,  with  our  churches.  We 
have  said  that  a  warm  home  feeling  comes  with 
prayer.  It  pervades  mysteriously  the  atmosphere 
of  every  church  which  is  habitually  and  daily  used 
as  a  house  of  prayer;  while,  just  as  invariably,  that 
home  feeling  is  absent  from  those  churches  in 
which,  however  eloquent  the  Sunday's  sermon  or 
elaborate  the  musical  service  may  be,  other  things 
take  the  place  of  prayer.  A  passer-by  strays  in  at 
the  door  of  a  real  house  of  prayer  on  a  week  day, 
and  somehow  the  breath  of  prayer  lingers  on  the 
walls ;    somehow  the   spiritual  fragrance  of  prayer, 


248  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

which  in  the  Bible  is  so  often  compared  with  incense, 
fills  the  quiet  sanctuary.  No  other  being  may  be 
present;  but  this  stranger,  who  has  never  been  there 
before,  seems  at  once  to  feel  at  home,  while  the 
silent  spell  of  the  sanctuary  falls  full  upon  his  soul, 
prompting  him  to  sink  on  his  knees  and  whisper, 
"This  is  My  Father's  House.  This  is  none  other 
but  the  House  of  God  and  the  Gate  of  Heaven." 


H 

The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  record  that,  after 
Pentecost,  the  first  Christians  were  in  the  habit  of 
coming  often  together  in  private  houses  for  the 
Breaking  of  Bread.  They  had  been  Jews. by  birth 
and  education  before  they  became  Christ's  followers, 
and  therefore  very  naturally  they  attended  the  ser- 
vices of  the  Jewish  synagogues  as  well  as  that  of 
the  Tem'ple  itself.  But  the  only  distinctively  CJiris- 
tiait  service  held  by  them  at  that  time  was  the  one 
emphasized  in  the  Book  of  Acts  as  the  Breaking  of 
Bread.  And  this  accounts  for  that  marked  silence, 
throughout  the  New  Testament,  on  the  subject  of 
public  worship.  We  read,  indeed,  that  the  first 
Christians  often  came  together  informally  for  prayer, 
but  they  had  only  one  service  of  public  worship,  — 
the  Breaking  of  Bread;  and  that  particular  one 
is  especially  named  and  referred  to  not  only  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Epistles,  but  in  the 
Gospels  themselves. 

We  should  never  forget  this  historic  fact,  in  con- 
trasting nineteenth  century  days  with  New  Testa- 
ment days.     If  we  would  understand  those  times,  we 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      249 

must  not  read  into  therrij  or  take  for  granted,  condi- 
tions and  customs  which  have  arisen  in  subsequent 
centuries,  but  simply  take  the  record  as  it  stands. 

And  the  reason  for  this  New  Testament  fact  is 
evident.  The  Lord's  Supper,  instituted  by  Christ 
the  night  before  His  Crucifixion,  was  the  only  ser- 
vice of  public  ivorsJiip  zvliicJi  the  Lord  Himself 
ordained.  And  His  dying  charge  to  His  followers 
concerning  it  was  very  explicit:  "Do  this  in  remem- 
brance of  Me.  "^  In  the  earliest  days,  when  Chris- 
tianity itself  was  only  known  as  "The  Way,"  this 
service  was  called  "The  Breaking  of  Bread;"  and 
the  use  of  this  term  so  exclusively  in  the  first 
chapters  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  an  indica- 
tion of  the  primitive  character  of  that  record.  Soon 
after,  St.  Paul  called  it  the  "Lord's  Supper  "  ^  and 
also,  in  the  same  Epistle  by  implication,  "The 
Communion.  "3  In  the  post-apostolic  age,  its  dis- 
tinctive name  was  "The  Eucharist;"  and  this  term 
also  seems  traceable,  for  its  earliest  use,  back  to 
St.  Paul;^  while  the  last  name,  used  more  especially 
by  the  early  Christians  of  Rome,  "The  Sacrament," 
or  oath,  seems  to  have  had  especial  reference  to 
the  "New  Testament,"  or  "New  Covenant  in 
His  Blood,"  of  which  Christ  so  earnestly  spoke. ^ 
These  five  names  for  the  Holy  Communion,  all  dis- 
tinctly of  New  Testament  origin,  indicate  how 
strongly  it  anchored  itself  in  the  life  of  the  early 

1  St.  Luke  xxii.  19;  i  Cor.  xi,  24. 

^  I  Cor.  xi.  20.  3  J  Coj.  X.  16. 

*  I  Cor.  xiv.  16.  Compare  chapter  xi.  24;  also  St.  Matt.  xxvi. 
27  ;  St.  Mark  xiv.  23  ;  St.  Luke  xxii.  19. 

5  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  28;  St.  Mark  xiv.  24;  St.  Luke  xxii.  20;  i 
Cor.  xi.  25. 


250  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Christians,  and  how  much  it  meant  to  them  in  its 
many-sided  blessedness.^  Instituted  by  Christ  Him- 
self, it  naturally  became  their  one  supreme  service 
of  public  worship.  For  it  stood,  in  its  comprehensive 
simplicity,  (i)  as  an  ever-present  witness  against 
the  utter  imperfection  of  all  heathen  sacrifices ;  (2) 
as  the  Christian  substitute  for  all  Jewish  sacrificial 
services;  (3)  as  the  memorial  of  Christ's  full,  per- 
fect, and  sufficient  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world  upon  the  Cross;  (4)  as  a  service  in  which  the 
risen  Christ  imparted  to  them  His  Divine  life  and 
the  power  of  His  Resurrection  in  such  a  way  that 
they  were  made  "one  Body  with  Him;"  (5)  as  a 
service  in  which  the  ascended  Christ,  the  High 
Priest  in  Heaven,  is  united  to  His  followers  on 
earth  and  pledges  to  them  the  continuance  of  His 
self-sacrificing  love;  (6)  as  the  "New  Testament" 
or  New  Covenant  in  His  blood  that  He  makes  with 
them ;  (7)  as  their  sacrifice  of  prayer  and  thanks- 
giving to  Him. 

Standing  for  all  this  and  more,  the  power  of  this 
particular  service  of  public  worship  was  such,  in 
its  direct  and  indirect  influences,  that  as  early  as 
the  beginning  of  the  second  century  the  younger 
Pliny  wrote  to  the  Emperor  of  Rome  that,  through 
the  influence  of  the  Christians,  the  Roman  altars 
were  being  deserted  and  the  Roman  sacrifices  in 
danger  of  being  abolished. 

^  The  word  "  Mass,''''  though  quite  ancient,  originated  in  a  later 
period.  It  is  derived  not  from  the  New  Testament  itself,  but  accord- 
ing to  Cardinal  Bona  from  a  liturgical  phrase,  "  Missa  est."  It  has  no 
ancient  or  religious  significance  ;  and  it  has  become  identified  with  a 
doctrine  of  the  Communion  that  was  utterly  unknown  for  the  first 
seven  centuries  of  the  Christian  era. 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      25 1 

And  when  we  pass  on  to  a  still  later  date,  the 
Eucharist  stands  out  as  the  foundation  of  all  Chris- 
tian liturgical  worship;  so  much  so,  in  fact,  that  for 
a  long  period  it  was  the  only  service  known  distinc- 
tively as  "the  Liturgy."  Though  the  beginnings  of 
Christian,  as  distinguished  from  Jewish,  liturgical 
worship  are  obscure,  we  find,  in  comparatively  early 
days,  four  distinct  groups  or  families  of  liturgies, 
which  were  traditionally  and  respectively  known  as 
(i)  the  Liturgy  of  St.  James,  used  at  Jerusalem;  (2) 
the  Liturgy  of  St.  John,  used  at  Ephesus  and  vicin- 
ity—  and  afterwards  introduced  by  missionaries  from 
Ephesus  into  France  and  England  and  Spain;  (3) 
the  Liturgy  of  St.  Peter,  used  in  Rome ;  and  (4)  the 
Liturgy  of  St.  Mark,  w^hich  was  used  in  Egypt.  In 
these  Communion  services  there  are  a  dozen  or  more 
distinct  features  that  are  common  to  all,  though  they 
are  grouped  together  in  different  order  of  sequence. 
And,  just  as  the  likeness  between  different  children 
of  a  family  indicates  that  they  are  the  offspring 
of  the  same  parents,  whose  features  they  preserve, 
so  the  resemblances  between  these  four  liturgi- 
cal groups  point  back  to  some  common  origin,  or 
some  apostolic  nucleus  of  a  Communion  service 
used  in  the  earliest  days,  but  now  lost.  This  essen- 
tial nucleus  of  the  liturgy  consisted,  at  least,  of  the 
Benediction,  the  use  of  our  Lord's  words  of  Institu- 
tion, the  Breaking  of  the  Bread,  the  giving  of  thanks, 
the  taking  of  the  cup  into  the  hands,  and  the  devout 
reception  of  the  brea'd  and  wine,  as  is  seen  from  the 
Gospel    narrative.  1     In  the   first    institution  itself, 

1  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  26;  St.  Mark  xiv.  22;  St.  Luke  xxii.  19;  and 
also  I  Cor.  xi.  24. 


252  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

our  Lord  also  delivered  a  discourse^  and  a  hymn 
was  sung.  2 

While,  therefore,  it  is  true  that  as  time  went  on 
the  exact  outward  forms  of  ancient  liturgies  were 
gradually  adapted  to  the  varying  and  spiritual 
conditions  of  different  nations,  and  that  different 
centuries  have  contributed  their  liturgical  features 
to  the  original  use,  nevertheless,  we  cannot  fail 
to  be  impressed  with  the  strict  subordination  of 
these  to  the  primitive  landmarks  which  have  been 
handed  down  unchanged  from  New  Testament  times. 
Though  many  of  these  liturgical  enrichments  have 
been  hallowed  by  the  worship  of  fifty  generations  of 
believers  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  is  always 
to  be  borne  in  mind  that,  as  these  additions  were 
utterly  unknown  to  the  first  Christians,  they  are  not 
necessary  to  the  validity  of  the  Sacrament  itself. 

Never  were  there  holier  Eucharists  than  those 
recorded  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  in  which  the 
founders  themselves  of  the  Church,  appointed  by  our 
Lord,  took  part;  and  we  call  earnest  attention  to 
these  earlier  and  simpler  celebrations  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  in  New  Testament  days,  as  a  reminder 
that  the  one  thing  needful  above  all  others  in  the 
Eucharistic  Service  is  the  eucharistic  offering  of 
prayer  and  thanksgiving,  whether  the  celebration  be 
simple  or  rich  in  outward  and  liturgical  expression. 
And  therefore,  when  the  whole  body  of  Bishops  of 
the  Anglican  Communion,  assembled  at  Lambeth 
in  1888,  set  forth,  as  a  basis  for  the  reunion  of 
Christendom,  belief  in  the  Scriptures  and  Catholic 

1  St.  John  xiii.  31  ;  xiv.,  seq. 

2  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  30;  St.  Mark  xiv.  26. 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      253 

Creeds,  in  the  Sacraments  ordained  by  Christ  and 
the  Historic  Episcopate,  and,  as  with  one  voice, 
declared  that  for  the  validity  of  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  as  well  as  for  that  of  Baptism,  these 
two  conditions  were  sufficient,  (i)  that  they  should 
be  ministered  with  unfailing  use  of  Christ's  words  of 
institution,  and  (2)  of  the  elements  ordained  by  Him, 
those  Anglican  Bishops  were  strictly  in  the  line  of 
New  Testament  Churchmanship,  and  their  utterance 
falls  on  the  ear  with  the  force  of  the  old  apostolic 


III 

On  the  first  Easter  Day  the  risen  Christ  appeared 
five  times  to  His  followers.  At  the  time  of  one  of 
these  appearances,  it  is  recorded  by  St.  Luke  that  He 
walked  with  two  disciples  on  the  road  to  Emmaus,  but 
was  not  recognized  by  them,  until  at  eventide  '*  He 
took  bread  and  blessed  it,  and  brake  and  gave  to  them, 
and  their  eyes  were  opened."  ^  The  similarity  of  this 
hallowed  Easter  interview,  "  where  two  or  three  were 
gathered  together  in  His  name,"  to  that  other  service 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  He  Himself  had  insti- 
tuted three  days  before,  is  striking.  And  all  doubt 
that  it  was  regarded  by  the  first  Christians  as  a 
Eucharistic  service  is  set  at  rest  by  their  historian, 
St.  Luke  Himself,^  when  he   records  that  these  two 

1  St.  Luke  xxiv.  30. 

2  "  Luke's  style  is  compressed  in  the  highest  degree  ;  and  he  ex- 
pects a  great  deal  from  the  reader.  He  does  not  attempt  to  sketch 
the  surroundings  and  set  the  whole  scene  like  a  picture  before  the 
reader;  he  states  the  bare  facts  that  seem  to  him  important,  and 
leaves  the  reader  to  imagine  the  situation.  .  .  .  Hence,  though  his 
style  is  simple  and  clear,  yet  it  often  becomes  obscure  from  its  very 


2  54  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

disciples  hastened  back  to  the  Apostles  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  "  told  what  things  were  done  in  the  way 
and  how  He  was  known  of  them  ifi  the  breaking  of 
the  bread''  ^  The  earliest  name  for  the  Eucharist 
was  "  the  Breaking  of  Bread,"  and  the  first  time  that 
distinctive  name  is  used  is  in  the  description  of  how 
the  risen  Christ  revealed  Himself  to  the  two  disciples 
at  Emmaus  on  the  first  Lord's  Day  of  the  Christian 
era.2 

Once  more  this  same  first  day  of  the  week  upon 
which  the  disciples  were  all  assembled,  with  one 
accord  in  one  placed  was  consecrated  by  the  descent 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  Pentecost.  When  St.  Peter, 
inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  had  dehvered  his  pente- 
costal  message,  we  read  that  they  who  '^  gladly  received 
his  word  were  baptized ;''  and,  immediately  after  the 
verse  in  which  we  are  told  that  ''the  same  day  there 
were  added  unto  them  about  three  thousand  souls," 
comes  the  statement  that  these  "  continued  steadfastly 
in  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship  and  in  breaking 
of  bread  and  in  prayers!'  ^ 

For  several  years  after  this,  in  Jerusalem  and  its 
vicinity,  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  as  a  settled  national 
institution,  overshadowed  the  Christian  Lord's  Day. 
Very  naturally,  therefore,  there  is  no  mention  of  the 

brevity ;  and  the  meaning  is  lost,  because  the  reader  has  an  incom- 
plete or  a  positively  false  idea  of  the  situation.  It  is  always  hard  to 
recreate  the  remote  past;  knowledge,  imagination,  and,  above  all, 
sympathy  and  love  are  needed."  {St.  Paid  the  Traveller  and  the 
Roman  Citizen,  by  W.  C.  Ramsay,  D.C.L.,  p.  17.) 

1  St.  Luke  xxiv.  35,  R.  V. 

2  The  second  Lord's  day  was  marked  by  the  appearance  of  the 
risen  Christ  to  Thomas  and  the  other  Apostles. 

8  Acts  ii.  I. 

*  Acts  ii.  41,  42. 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      255 

latter  in  the  Book  of  Acts,  until  later  on,  when 
Christianity  had  extended  itself  beyond  Jerusalem. 
At  first  the  two  days  were  observed  side  by  side/ 
but  as  time  went  on,  the  observance  of  the  Jewish 
Sabbath  decreased,  while  that  of  the  Lord's  Day 
increased ;  and  the  first  time  after  Pentecost  that  the 
latter  is  directly  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Acts,  it 
is  again  associated  with  that  service  of  public  worship 
which  the  Lord  Himself  instituted.  For  St.  Luke  re- 
cords that  St.  Paul  tarried  at  Troas  seven  days  to 
meet  the  assembled  Church  "  ttpon  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  when  the  disciples  came  together  to  break  bread!'  ^ 
It  is  true  that  this  phrase,  "  the  breaking  of  bread," 
in  the  very  beginning  probably  included  also  the 
Agapae  or  love  feasts ;  but  these  were  dropped  at  a 
very  early  day  as  not  essential  to  the  Sacrament. 
It  is  also  quite  possible  that  immediately  after  Pente- 
cost it  was  the  habit  of  the  first  Christians  to  receive 
the  Communion  daily  as  well  as  weekly ;  but  we  do 
not  enter  into  these  questions  here.  Enough  for  us 
is  it  to  find  in  the  New  Testament  record  itself  such 
ample  ground  for  the  belief  which  subsequently  pre- 
vailed throughout  the  Church,  that  from  the  very  first 
there  was  always  a  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
on  the  Lord's  Day. 

St.  Chrysostom  (a.  D.  380)  tells  us  that  Sunday 
was  anciently  called,  among  other  names,  "  Dies 
Pants,"  the  day  of  bread,  because  the  Breaking  of 
Bread  was  so  general  a  custom  in  the  Church  on  that 
day;  and  it  can  be  shown  from  the  Canons  of  many 
a  Council  of  the  Primitive  Church  that  in  the   first 

-  Compare  Rom.  xiv.  5,  6 ;  and  Col.  ii.  16, 17. 
2  Acts  XX.  7. 


256  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

ages  It  was  a  standing  rule  that  communicants  should 
be  constant  in  receiving  the  Holy  Communion  once 
a  week  on  the  Lord's  Day.^ 

1  Reception  of  the  elei7ients  enjoined  on  all  the  Solemn  Assembly  on 
the  Lord's  Day,  Apost.  Can.,  c.  10.  "All  communicants  who  come  to 
church  to  hear  the  vScriptures  read  but  do  not  stay  to  join  in  prayers 
and  in  receiving  the  Eucharist  are  to  be  suspended  as  authors  of  dis- 
order in  the  Church." 

Council  of  Antioch,  Can.  2  (264).  Let  all  those  be  cast  out  of  the 
Church  who  come  to  hear  the  Scriptures  read  in  the  Church  but  do 
not  communicate  with  the  people  in  prayer  or  disorderly  turn  away 
from  participation  of  the  Eucharist. 

Chrysos.  (380)  Hom.  3.  [Ephesians].  All  they  that  do  not  com- 
municate are  penitents,  if  thou  art  of  the  number  of  those  who  do 
penance  thou  mayest  not  partake,  for  whoever  does  not  partake  is 
one  of  that  number. 

Council  of  Eliber,  Can.  28  (305).  The  Bishop  must  not  receive 
the  oblations  of  such  as  do  not  communicate. 

First  Council  of  Toledo  (539),  Can.  13.  Those  who  come  to  church 
but  neglect  to  communicate  are  to  be  admonished,  and  if  they  amend 
not  upon  admonition,  they  are  to  be  reduced  to  a  state  of  formal 
penance  for  their  crime. 

Justin  Martyr,  Apol.  i,  cap.  67  (speaking  of  the  Solemn  Assembly 
of  all  the  people  on  Sunday).  "Then  all  the  members  participated 
of  the  Eucharist,  and  it  was  carried  to  the  absent  by  the  deacons." 

Chrys.  Hom.  "  I  often  observe  a  great  multitude  flock  together 
to  hear  the  sermon,  but  when  the  time  of  the  Holy  Mysteries  comes 
I  can  see  few  or  none  of  them,  which  makes  me  sigh  from  the  bottom 
of  my  heart,  that  when  I,  your  fellow  servant,  am  discoursing  to  you 
you  are  ready  to  tread  upon  one  another  for  earnestness  to  hear  and 
continue  very  attentive  to  the  end;  but  when  Christ  our  common 
Lord  and  Master  is  ready  to  appear  in  the  Holy  Mysteries  the  Church 
is  in  a  manner  empty  and  deserted." 

See  also  Calvin  Inst.,  lib.  4,  ch.  17,  n.  46  ;  condemning  the  popish 
custom  of  communicating  once  a  year  as  an  invention  of  the  devil 
and  pleading  for  a  restoration  of  the  primitive  custom  of  communi- 
cating every  Lord's  Day,  says  :  "  Every  week,  at  the  least,  the  Lord's 
Table  should  be  set  before  the  assembly  of  the  Christians.  All  should 
by  heaps,  as  hungry  men,  come  together  to  such  dainties." 

Time  of  celebration  of  the  Solemn  Assejnbly  on  Sunday.  The  thiid 
hour   (9  o'clock)  is  mentioned  by  all  the  writers  who  say  anything 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS     257 

IV 

In  vivid  contrast  to  this  ancient  custom  stands  the 
modern  way  of  keeping  the  Lord's  Day  holy  that 
has  prevailed  among  Protestants  since  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  chief  service  of  the  Lord's  Day  —  or,  at 
least,  that  which  is  in  popular  opinion  the  most 
important  service  of  the  whole  week  —  is  not,  as  in 
the  Primitive  Church,  for  communicants  only,  but 
equally  for  non-communicants ;  and  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  latter  the  one  service  of  public  worship 
which  Christ  Himself  ordained  is  set  aside  for  an- 
other kind  of  service  of  man's  devising,  in  which  the 
sermon  is  substituted  for  this  Sacrament.  The  results 
of  this  change  are  as  follows :  — 

First:  Inasmuch  as  the  spiritual  welfare  of  com- 
municants is  disregarded  and  practically  overlooked 
for  the  sake  of  non-communicants,  Christ's  most 
earnest  followers,  as  a  rule,  find  the  chief  service 
on  the  Sunday  morning  in  their  parish  church  far 
less  spiritual  in  tone,  far  less  helpful  in  effect,  than 
some  quiet,  week-day  service  where  two  or  three 
only  are  gathered  together  in  Christ's  name  to  praise 
and  pray.  For,  in  the  Sunday's  service,  not  only  are 
they  surrounded  by  the  worldly  and  careless,  who, 
by  their  evident  want  of  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of 
prayer  and  praise,  and  by  their  cold  indifference, 
are  ceaselessly  distracting  the  devout  worshipper  of 

about  it.  In  memory  of  the  Holy  Ghost  coming  upon  the  Apostles  at 
this  time,  and  of  our  Saviour's  being  condemned  by  Pilate  at  this 
time.  Chrysostom  says  that  the  day  is  called  Dies  Panis,  the  Day  of 
Bread.  Sidonia  Apoll.,  lib.  5,  Epis.  17.  "  We  meet  at  the  third  hour, 
when  the  priests  perform  the  Divine  Service." 

17 


258  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

God,  but  as  the  crowning  effort  of  the  pastor  is  to 
reach  those  who  are  not  communicants  already,  this 
conditions  the  character  of  the  sermons  that  are 
preached.  The  deeper  spiritual  truths  of  the  Gospel, 
which  to  the  devout  believer  are  more  real  than  all 
else  in  this  world,  are  seldom  or  never  dwelt  upon, 
because  they  would  sound  as  mere  platitudes  to 
those  indifferent  masses  who  are  lacking  in  spiritual 
discernment.  And,  consequently,  a  communicant 
who  is  hungering  and  thirsting  for  the  real  ministry 
of  the  Word  is  obliged  to  listen  Sunday  after  Sunday, 
while  the  Gospel  message  is  toned  down  and  pre- 
sented in  a  way  that  will  attract  the  attention  of 
the  careless  or  Gospel  hardened,  and  while  outsiders 
are  urged  to  accept  the  truth  that  he  has  accepted 
years  ago.  Would  such  a  method  of  education  be 
tolerated  for  one  moment  in  any  human  institution 
of  learning?  ^ 

As  an  inevitable  result,  the  whole  spiritual  tone  of 
the  communicant's  life  is  lowered.  He  is  neglected 
by  the  Church.  No  opportunities  for  spiritual  ed- 
ucation are  afforded  him  over  and  above  those 
held  out  to  non-communicants,  and  he  goes  back  to 
his  home  depressed  by  the  morning  service,  disap- 
pointed that  he  cannot  be  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  regretting  the  worldliness  of  the  congregation, 
and  the  low  spiritual  tone  of  his   rector's   sermons, 

1  There  are  times  in  the  Church  when  such  appeals  to  the  uncon- 
verted are  not  only  necessary,  but  a  true  ministry  of  the  Word,  for 
Christ  Himself  taught  the  multitudes  by  j^arables ;  but  when  they 
were  alone  He  expounded  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
to  His  disciples  (St.  Matt.  xiii.  10-18,  seq.),  who  thus  received  a  special 
training  at  His  hand.  Can  it  be  said  that  the  communicants  of  to-day 
receive  any  similar  training.^ 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      259 

until  at  last  he  loses  his  desire  to  grow  in  grace  and 
in  spiritualit}'. 

Secondly,  let  us  consider  the  effect  upon  the  non- 
communicants  themselves.  In  the  Primitive  Church 
these  were,  as  we  have  said,  separated  from  the  com- 
municants or  '*  the  faithful,"  because  in  that  day  there 
was  not  only  a  spiritual  but  a  great  moral  distinction 
also  between  the  lives  of  communicants  and  non- 
communicants.  In  the  growth  of  that  civilization 
which  is  a  result  of  Christianit\%  times  have,  how- 
ever, greatly  changed.  The  kind  of  discipline  that 
was  needed  in  the  early  Church  is  no  longer  needed 
now,  for  the  outward  moral  life  of  communicants 
and  of  the  ordinary  church-goer  is  practically  the 
same.  The  discipline  that  the  Church  once  exercised 
against  gross  immorality  is  now  enforced  by  civilized 
society  itself;  if  a  man  offends,  he  falls  below  the 
accepted  standard  of  social  respectability.  But  the 
spiritual  distinction  remains  unchanged,  nor  can  it 
be  obliterated  by  any  progress  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. It  is  perfectly  true  that  through  the  laws  of 
Christian  heredity,  and  also  because  of  the  social 
forces  of  their  environment,  non-communicants  often 
attain  a  high  standard  of  moral  life.  But  does  this 
afford  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  Church  herself  to  go 
to  the  opposite  extreme  and  adapt  her  services  to 
them,  rather  than  to  those  who  openly  confess  Christ 
and  obey  His  dying  command,  "  Do  this  in  remem- 
brance of  Me"?  Such  is,  in  effect,  what  is  done 
when  the  Holy  Communion  is  banished  from  the 
place  it  once  occupied  as  the  chief  service  of  the 
Lord's  Day.  Even  the  monthh'  midday  celebration 
for  those  communicants  who   have  fallen  below  the 


26o  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

primitive  custom  of  weekly  communion  is  placed  in 
a  subordinate  position  to  the  regular  morning  service. 
Those  who  refuse  to  repent  of  their  sin  and  accept 
Christ  as  their  Saviour  are  thus  placed  in  an  ab- 
solutely false  position,  in  which  they  acquire  a 
subtle  sense  of  superiority  over  the  communicants. 
When  they  behold  the  Church,  on  the  one  hand, 
preaching  the  supreme  importance  of  repentance 
and  conversion,  of  faith  and  obedience,  of  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  then,  to  meet  the  needs 
of  those  who  are  not  communicants,  substituting  for 
the  one  service  ordained  by  Christ  another  kind  of 
service,  an  impression  of  unreality  is  conveyed  re- 
garding all  Church  Doctrii  e,  and  particularly  regard- 
ing Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  in  view  of  such  facts  care- 
less and  indifferent  people,  whose  judgements  about 
religion  are  generally  superficial,  think  that  Confir- 
mation is  the  end  to  which  all  the  ministrations  of 
the  Church  are  directed?  that  when  a  person  is  once 
for  all  confirmed  there  is  nothing  more  for  him 
to  do?  and  that  the  whole  religious  life  thereafter  is 
chiefly  a  matter  of  sentiment?  Is  it  any  marvel  that 
under  such  circumstances  popular  impressions  about 
the  unreality  of  the  religious  life  and  the  artificiality 
of  the  Sunday  services  become  more  and  more 
prevalent? 

Thirdly,  even  in  her  efforts  to  attract  outsiders  in 
whom  the  spirit  of  worship  is  lacking,  the  Church 
has  sought  to  bring  congregations  together  by  appeal- 
ing to  a  lower  motive  than  that  to  which  the  New 
Testament  Christians  appealed. 

The  old   message   of  the  Apostles   to  the  uncon- 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      26 1 

verted,  echoed  from  the  Hps  of  St.  John  the  Baptist 
and  of  Christ  Himself,  was,  "  Repent  ye,  for  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand,"  and  they  preached 
the  **  glad  tidings  "  of  the  Kingdom  to  bleeding 
hearts  and  sinning  souls  with  a  power  that  sur- 
passed all  human  eloquence.  In  painful,  vivid  con- 
trast to  that  kind  of  apostolic  preaching  stands  out 
the  modern  sermon,  in  which  the  Christian  minister 
leaves  the  Gospel  message  he  was  ordained  to  de- 
liver, to  treat  of  those  literary,  social,  and  economical 
topics  of  the  day  which  are  supposed  to  interest  a 
mixed  congregation,  but  which  fail  to  interest  when 
they  are  the  theme  of  a  Sunday's  sermon,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  no  clergyman  can  possibly  speak 
upon  secular  subjects  with  the  same  force  as  profes- 
sional lecturers  who  are  experts  in  such  special 
branches  of  knowledge.  If,  everywhere  around  us, 
the  cry  is  going  up  to-day  that  the  services  of  the 
Church  are  being  more  and  more  deserted  by  the 
people,  the  cause  is  obvious.  In  her  efforts  to 
reach  the  people  by  appealing  to  the  secular  motive 
the  Church  has  lost  her  old-time  power.  Instead  of 
spiritualizing  them,  she  is  not  only  in  danger  of  be- 
coming secularized  herself,  but  the  influences  she  has 
made  use  of  have  lost  their  spell,  the  lower  motive  to 
which  she  has  appealed  has  come  to  the  end  of  it- 
self, the  congregations  she  has  drawn  together  have 
melted  away.  How  far  this  neglect  to  preach  the 
old  Gospel  message,  in  its  power  and  simplicity, — 
how  far,  in  a  word,  the  Church's  neglect  to  be  herself 
"  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  Day,"  —  has  contributed 
indirectly  to  the  present  secularization  of  Sunday, 
is  a  subject  that  deserves  thoughtful  consideration. 


202  NEW    TESTAMENT    CIIURCHMANSHIP 

Sooner  or  later,  the  realization  of  this  truth  in  its 
general  bearings  will  be  brought  home  to  the  Church 
of  the  future ;  and  if  she  profits  by  the  lesson,  there 
will  b.e  a  silver  lining  even  to  so  dark  a  cloud  as  this. 


V 

What,  then,  is  the  remedy  ?  The  New  Testament 
itself  tells  us.  The  Church  can  never  convert  the 
world  by  compromising  with  the  world.  Whenever 
she  has  tried  to  meet  men  by  lowering  her  standard 
to  attract  the  masses,  she  has  failed ;  let  her  now 
return  to  the  old  Gospel  way  of  elevating  them  to 
the  plane  of  her  own  life. 

If  any  spiritual  result  is  to  be  accomplished,  it 
must  be  through  the  comnuinicants  themselves.  For 
they  alone  are  responsive  to  higher  motives;  they 
alone  are  free  and  uncommitted  to  the  bondage  of 
sin;  they  alone  have  a  sense  of  personal  responsi- 
bility to  Christ;  they  alone  have  faith  in  Christ's 
words  and  the  discernment  to  recognize  spiritual 
truths.  It  is  chiefly  through  the  direct  and  in- 
direct influence  of  the  lives  of  the  communicants 
that  the  outer  world  is  to  be  reached.  They  are 
the  "light  of  the  world,"  "the  leaven  that  leaveneth 
the  whole  lump;  "  and  when  they  begin  to  realize  the 
profound  truth  so  earnestly  emphasized  by  St.  Peter, 
that  they  are  "a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priest- 
hood, a  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people,"  when  they 
begin  to  manifest  the  power  of  that  priestly  life  of 
self-sacrifice  which  rejoices  in  enduring  all  things 
for  Christ's  sake,  their  influence  will  once  more  be 
felt  by  the  outer  world.     What  we  need  most  of  all 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      263 

in  these  days  is  not  so  much  the  extensive  as  the 
intensive  influences  of  Christ's  religion;  not  an 
increase  of  numbers  from  the  many,  but  an  increase 
of  spiritual  power  among  the  few. 

Many  efforts  in  many  directions  have  been  put 
forth  by  those  who  recognize  the  gradual  lowering 
of  tone  in  the  life  of  communicants,  to  quicken 
them  to  greater  zeal,  but  these  attempts  have  all 
been  more  or  less  disappointing.  And  is  there  not 
a  plain  reason  for  the  failure  .^  Is  not  Christ's  own 
way,  after  all,  the  best  w^ay.^  No  substitute  of 
man's  devising  can  take  the  place  of  that  one  Service 
which  He  ordained.  Prayer  meetings,  communi- 
cants' union  meetings,  are  all  of  them  helpful  in 
their  way,  but  there  is  always  a  danger  of  self-con- 
sciousness and  spiritual  pride  to  be  guarded  against 
in  such  meetings;  and  this  all  experience  proves. 

What  the  communicants  need  most  of  all  is  to  be 
brought  to  a  higher,  holier  realization  of  the  only 
Power  that  will  lift  them  above  self-consciousness 
into  the  region  of  God-consciousness,  the  Presence 
of  Christ  as  our  Everliving  Prophet,  Priest,  and 
King.  One  reason  why  communicants  do  not  stand 
out  as  witnesses  and  leaders  for  Christ,  is  because 
they  are  deficient  in  those  elements  of  Christian 
character  which  depend  upon  the  cultivation  of  the 
instinct  of  worship.  Christian  experience  has  shown 
conclusively  that  among  all  the  public  services  of 
the  Church,  none  exercises  so  powerful  an  influence 
upon  the  faithful  in  controlling  their  wandering 
thoughts,  in  fostering  a  spirit  of  prayer,  or  inspiring 
a  consciousness  of  the  Presence  of  Christ  where  two 
or  three  are  gathered  together  in  His  name,  as  the 


264  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

Holy  Communion.  If  through  the  neglect  of  the 
Eucharist,  therefore,  the  communicants  lose  this 
help  to  devotional  life,  not  only  is  their  own  spirit- 
ual growth  retarded,  but  the  Church  at  large,  w^hich 
is  ever  depending  upon  their  conscious  or  uncon- 
scious influence,  is  correspondingly  impoverished. 

No  other  service  can  take  the  place  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist;  and  never  shall  we  regain  the  earnest- 
ness, the  joy,  the  abiding  consciousness  of  the 
Presence  of  Christ  possessed  by  the  early  Church, 
until  we  restore  the  Lord's  Supper  to  its  primitive 
position  as  the  chief  service  on  the  Lord's  Day. 

It  is  true  that  hundreds  of  parish  churches,  for  a 
generation  or  more,  have  had  weekly  celebrations  of 
the  Holy  Communion  upon  each  Lord's  Day,  with- 
out producing  that  kind  of  spiritual  effect  upon  the 
lives  of  communicants  which  we  have  just  described  ; 
but  when  we  place  these  modern  celebrations  of  the 
Eucharist  side  by  side  with  those  of  the  Primitive 
Church,  do  we  not  find  a  great  difference  between 
them? 

If  the  Holy  Communion  is  only  celebrated  either 
at  a  very  early  hour  in  the  morning,  when  compara- 
tively few  can  attend,  or  else  after  midday,  when  it  has 
been  preceded  by  a  long  service  and  sermon,  it  can 
hardly  be  called  the  (f///(/service  of  the  Lord's  Day. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  made  ^'a  High  Celebra- 
tion," with  ornate  ritual  of  a  kind  that  was  utterly 
unknown  in  the  first  three  centuries,  or  at  which  the 
communicants  are  expected  to  be  present  without 
communicating,  surely  this  is  a  kind  of  service 
entirely  different  from  the  Lord's  Day  Communions 
of    the    Primitive    Church.      If,    again,    those   who 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      265 

advocate  the  modern  practice  do  so  on  the  ground 
of  ''fasting  communions"  (see  Note  A.),  or  of 
Catholic  precedent,  they  should  not  only  carefully 
compare  what  they  call  Catholic  precedent  with 
primitive  precedent,  but  also  seriously,  conscien- 
tiously, and  in  the  sight  of  God,  face  the  fact  that 
they  are  actually  preventing  the  Lord's  Supper  from 
taking  its  place  as  the  chief  service  of  the  Lord's 
Day  according  to  Anglican  precedent. 

As  it  is  set  forth  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
Anglican  precedent  is  the  nearest  approximation  to 
primitive  precedent  that  exists  in  modern  days;  and 
this  will  be  seen  at  once  when  we  compare  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Eucharist,  as  it  is  set  forth  in  the 
Prayer  Book,  with  the  celebrations  of  the  post- 
apostolic  Church  in  the  middle  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, as  they  are  described  by  a  very  trustworthy 
witness  who  wrote  within  fifty  years  after  the  death 
of  St.  John.  That  witness  is  Justin  Martyr.  Writ- 
ing about  A.  D.   140,  he  says  :  — 

"  Upon  the  day  called  Sunday  we  have  an  assembly  of 
all  who  live  in  the  towns  or  in  the  country,  who  meet  in  an 
appointed  place  ;  and  the  records  of  the  Apostles  or  the 
writings  of  the  Apostles  are  read,  according  as  time  will 
permit.  When  the  reader  has  ended,  then  the  Bishop 
(6  TTpocorra)?)  admonishes  and  exhorts  us  in  a  discourse,  that 
we  should  imitate  such  good  examples.  After  that,  we  all 
stand  up  and  pray,  and,  as  we  said  before,  when  that  prayer 
is  ended,  bread  is  offered  and  wine  and  water ;  then  the 
Bishop  also,  according  to  the  authority  given  him,  sends  up 
prayers  and  thanksgivings,  and  the  people  end  the  prayer  with 
him.  After  which,  distribution  is  made  of  the  consecrated 
elements."     (Justin  Martyr,  Apol.  II.) 


266  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

When  we  compare  the  Communion  Office  of  the 
Prayer  Book  with  the  Eucharistic  celebrations  of 
the  early  Church,  as  here  described,  we  discover  a 
striking  likeness  between  the  two.  In  each,  first 
things  are  put  first;  methods  of  administration  and 
minute  points  of  ritual  are  subordinated  to  those 
great  spiritual  and  ethical  principles  of  worship  for 
which  the  Holy  Communion  stands.  The  service 
is  in  a  language  that  the  people  can  understand; 
the  writings  of  the  Apostles  are  read  to  inspire  the 
hearts  of  the  worshippers  with  the  New  Testament 
spirit;  the  Gospel  message  is  delivered  to  the  com- 
municants by  the  lips  of  the  bishop  or  priest  as  part 
of  the  preparation ;  then  with  prayers  and  thanks- 
givings, in  which  the  congregation  intelligently 
join,  the  bread  and  wine,  or  wine  mixed  with  water, 
are  consecrated  and  distributed  to  the  congregation, 
who  are  expected  on  each  Lord's  Day,  not  only  to 
be  present,  but  to  receive  the  consecrated  elements 
according  to  Christ's  command.  It  will  be  here 
distinctly  noted  that  in  both  primitive  and  Anglican 
celebrations  the  service  is  in  such  a  form  as  to 
help  the  communicants,  not  only  spiritually,  but 
morally  and  intellectually  as  well. 

And  this,  after  all,  is  the  test  of  true  worship.  It 
must  be  in  accordance  with  Christ's  command, 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind  ;" 
it  must  be  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  Christ 
Himself,  Who  is  the  Eternal  Logos,  and  with  the 
principles  of  His  Incarnation;  it  must  be  also  in 
accordance  with  all  that  is  highest  and  best  in 
human  nature,  satisfying  the  demands  of  the  reason 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      267 

and  moral  sense  as  well  as  the  aspirations  of  the 
heart;  it  must,  in  short,  bring  men  who  are  made 
in  the  image  of  God  in  living  contact  with  the 
ascended  Christ  in  such  a  way  as  to  inspire  them 
with  the  spirit  of  love  and  power  and  a  sound  mind. 
If  the  Eucharistic  Service  does  not  have  this  effect 
upon  a  communicant's  life,  or  if,  in  any  branch  of 
the  Church,  it  is  interpreted  and  conducted  in  such 
a  way  that,  while  it  may  promote  outward  reverence 
and  devotion,  it  does  not  strengthen  the  worshippers 
in  a  life  of  righteousness  and  intelligence,  then  this 
is  a  sure  sign  that  such  administration  does  not  come 
up  to  the  New  Testament  level  or  meet  New  Testa- 
ment requirements.  One  cannot  have  true  ideas  of 
the  Eucharistic  Celebration  who  has  low  or  false 
ideas  of  worship.  For  the  Eucharist  is  the  central 
act  of  worship  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  in  which 
Christ's  followers  consecrate  themselves,  with  all 
their  physical,  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual 
powers,  to  His  service;  and  confess  that  in  all  their 
earthly  work,  and  their  efforts  to  do  that  work,  they 
are  completely  dependent  upon  Him.  Nothing  in  all 
human  existence  reaches  the  height  of  this  supreme 
act  of  faith,  in  which  believers  strive  to  surrender 
their  lives  to  God  as  Christ  gave  His  life  for  them, 
while  they  pray:  "  We  earnestly  desire  Thy  fatherly 
goodness  mercifully  to  accept  this  our  sacrifice  of 
praise  and  thanksgiving,  most  humbly  beseeching 
Thee  to  grant  that,  by  the  merits  and  death  of  Thy 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  through  faith  in  His  blood, 
we,  and  all  Thy  whole  Church,  may  obtain  remission 
of  our  sins,  and  all  other  benefits  of  His  passion. 
And  here  we  offer  and  present  unto  Thee,  O  Lord, 


268  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

ourselves,  our  souls  and  bodies,  to  be  a  reasonable, 
holy,  and  living  sacrifice  unto  Thee." 


VI 

In  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  we  constantly 
meet  with  the  phrase,  "  The  Ministry  of  the  Word 
and  of  the  Sacraments,'*  Now  in  this  connection, 
and  then  in  that ;  now  in  the  prayer  for  the  Church 
Militant,  and  then  in  the  different  Ordination 
Offices,  it  appears  with  persistent  repetition;  and 
the  profound  reason  why  the  Church  so  carefully 
preserves  this  balance  between  the  Ministry  of  the 
Word  on  the  one  side  and  the  Ministry  of  the  Sac- 
raments on  the  other,  becomes  evident  when  we  look 
back  upon  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  past  and 
behold  the  one-sidedness,  the  forgetfulness  of  the 
Ascension  of  Christ  and  its  meaning,  the  abnormal 
exaggeration  of  secondary  above  primary  truths,  and 
especially  those  low  ideas  of  the  blessed  Eucharist, 
which  reveal  themselves  so  plainly  in  the  religious 
life  of  east  and  west  in  bygone  centuries.  It  was 
because  the  English  reformers  saw  all  this  in  their 
day  that  they  embedded  the  sermon  in  the  midst  of 
the  Communion  Office.  They  had  a  wise  and  far-see- 
ing object  in  so  doing.  Filled  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Primitive  Church,  their  aim  was  to  provide  for  the 
Ministry  of  the  Word,  side  by  side  with  the  Minis- 
try of  the  Sacraments.  The  marked  and  significant 
position  of  the  Sermon  in  the  Anglican  Prayer  Book 
after  the  Creed  —  the  confession  of  Faith  on  the  part 
of  the  faithful  —  shows  that  the  primary  object  of 
that    sermon    is    to    help    the    comnumica7its.     The 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS     269 

present  prevalent  use  of  the  Ante-Communion  and 
Sermon,  without  the  Communion  itself,  violates, 
therefore,  the  high  ideal  of  the  Prayer  Book  and 
defeats  the  very  object  it  has  in  view;  which  is,  that 
the  whole  Communion  Office,  as  in  the  Primitive 
Church,  should  be  used  on  every  Lord's  Day  for 
those  faithful  and  true  believers  who  have  responded 
to  Christ's  call,  "Follow  Me;"  and  that  the  best 
and  most  inspiring  service  of  the  whole  day,  with 
the  most  beautiful  and  devotional  music,  and  the 
strongest,  most  spiritual  sermon,  should  be  the  Sun- 
day morning  Eucharist,  with  a  congregation  com- 
posed of  communicants.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
here,  in  passing,  that  the  "plain  song"  was  also  set 
forth  at  the  same  time  by  the  reformers  as  a  substi- 
tute for  the  less  devotional  music  that  preceded  it. 

Time  enough  is  there  on  each  Lord's  Day,  after 
this  Eucharistic  Service  for  communicants  is  over, 
for  those  ordinary  Sunday  services  to  which  our 
church-goers  have  become  accustomed  (see  Note  B.) 
It  is  true  that  such  services  would  thus  take  a 
secondary  place;  but  so  far  from  this  being  a  loss,  it 
would  become  spiritually  an  incalculable  gain,  for 
it  would  bring  home  to  the  unbaptized  and  the 
unconfirmed  a  realization  of  their  true  position  in 
the  sight  of  God.  It  would  impress  upon  those  who 
reject  Christ  the  reality  of  their  state  of  separation 
from  God ;  it  would  reveal  to  them,  by  contrast,  the 
danger  of  belonging  to  a  Gospel-hardened  class,  and 
would  show  every  non-communicant  that  there  is  a 
higher  life,  a  holier  companionship,  an  atmosphere 
of  prayer  and  praise,  beyond  him  and  above  him, 
from  which  he  is  excluded. 


270  NEW    TESTAMENT    CHURCHMANSHIP 

But  the  greatest  gain  of  all  would  be  to  the 
communicants  themselves.  Restored  to  their  true 
position  in  the  Church,  and  that  which  believers 
occupied  in  the  apostolic  days;  no  longer  held  back 
by  the  lukewarm  and  indifferent,  they  would  be  free 
to  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  Coming  to 
the  House  of  God  as  His  children,  to  participate  in 
the  service  which  the  Lord  Himself  appointed,  the 
whole  atmosphere  of  the  sanctuary  would  be  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  an  ordinary  Sunday  morning's 
service.  The  congregation  of  communicants,  bound 
together  by  a  sense  of  Christian  sympathy  and 
companionship,  would  have  the  realization  of  the 
Communion  of  Saints,  and  be  thrilled  by  the  one 
supreme  aim  of  doing  the  will  of  their  reigning  King 
in  Heaven.  They  would  recite  the  Creed  as  a  real 
Confession  of  their  Faith;  they  would  join  in  the 
responses  and  the  fervent  devotional  hymns  as  with 
one  voice.  They  would  listen  to  a  sermon,  the  one 
object  of  which  was  to  bring  them  closer  to  Christ, 
and  which  would  inspire  them  with  the  conscious- 
ness that  the  one  thing  needful  above  all  others  in 
the  Eucharistic  Service  is  the  Eucharistic  offering 
of  prayer  and  thanksgiving. 

For  the  very  first  essential  to  a  devout  celebra- 
tion is  the  realization  what  this  one  public  service 
instituted  by  Christ  Himself  means;  the  realiza- 
tion that,  for  the  time  being,  we  are  joining  "with 
angels  and  archangels,  and  all  the  company  of 
Heaven,  in  the  worship  of  Heaven  itself;"  the  re- 
alization that  Christ  unites  om'  offering  of  bread 
and  wine  with  His  offering,  in  the  Holy  Place  not 
made  with  hands,  making  the  bread  the  Communion 


PUBLIC    WORSHIP    IN    NEW    TESTAMENT    DAYS      27 1 

of  His  Body,  and  the  cup  the  Communion  of  His 
Blood. 

Those  to  whom  the  Eucharist  means  all  this,  and 
only  those,  will  stand  beside  the  New  Testament 
Christians  in  their  devotional  life.  Lifting  up  their 
hearts  to  the  loftiest  heights  of  prayer  and  thanks- 
giving, they  will  experience  the  consciousness  of 
the  Presence  of  Christ  in  the  Communion  Service 
as  though,  for  the  time  being,  they  are  not  on  earth, 
but  in  the  heavenly  places  with  Him. 

They  know,  for  they  have  Christ's  own  word  for 
it,  that  Christ,  their  great  High  Priest  in  Heaven, 
Who  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them, 
has,  in  this  Service  which  He  Himself  ordained, 
come  near  to  them,  to  bestow  upon  them  every 
blessing  which  He  promised  in  His  own  Euchar- 
istic  Discourse,  after  the  Last  Supper;^  to  give 
them  His  peace,  to  abide  with  them,  and  to  ful- 
fil His  most  gracious  pledge,  "Because  I  live,  ye 
shall  live  also."  And  filled  with  the  Spirit  on 
the  Lord's  Day,  those  communicants  will  depart 
from  the  sanctuary  in  peace,  inspired,  satisfied,  and 
willing  now  to  comfort  others  with  the  comfort 
wherewith  they  themselves  have  been  comforted  of 
God. 

1  St.  John  xiii.  31-35  ;  xiv.,  xv.,  xvii. 


NOTE   A 

FASTING   COMMUNIONS 

THE  objection  will  undoubtedly  be  made  by  some,  that 
the  effect  of  such  a  Eucharist  as  we  have  described 
would  be  to  discourage  and,  perhaps,  ultimately  do  away 
with  the  practice  of  fasting  communions.  For,  it  would  be 
argued,  few  communicants  would  have  the  physical  strength 
to  come,  while  fasting,  to  a  celebration  at  nine  or  ten 
o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  which,  with  its  music,  sermon,  and 
other  appointments,  would  become  the  chief  service  of  each 
Lord's  Day.  All  this  may  be  true.  But  is  not  the  emphasis 
so  often  laid  upon  the  necessity  of  so-called  fasting  com- 
munions in  itself  an  exaggeration  ?  Fasting  and  abstinence 
are  religious  duties  often  referred  to,  often  enjoined  in  the 
New  Testament ;  but  nowhere  do  we  find  exact  and  defi- 
nite rules  laid  down  regarding  the  degree  of  fasting  that  men 
shall  observe  ;  nowhere  is  it  taught  that  fasting  means  total 
abstinence  from  food.  It  is  always  dangerous  to  be  wise 
above  that  which  is  written,  or  to  imitate  the  error  of  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  in  laying  down  specific  rules  of  action 
where  the  Word  of  God  has  prescribed  none,  especially 
when  the  practice  of  the  New  Testament  Church  seems  to 
have  been,  if  anything,  in  the  opposite  direction.^ 

And  when  we  turn  to  the  Primitive  Church  and  its  prac- 
tice in  the  first  three  centuries,  we  find  that  if  any  rule  was 
clearly,  definitely,  and  continuously  laid  down  it  was  the 
injunction  that  Christians  should  never /^j-/  07i  the  Lord's 

1  I  Cor.  xi.  34. 
18 


2  74  FASTING    COMMUNIONS 

Day,  because  it  was  on  this  day  that  Christ  rose  from  the 
dead,  and  that  the  Holy  Ghost  came  down  from  Heaven. 
Surrounded  by  heathen  nations  everywhere,  as  the  first 
Christians  were,  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day  was  a 
witness,  every  week,  to  the  truth  of  the  Resurrection  ;  and 
therefore  the  stress  that  was  laid  upon  it.  Saturday  was 
also  regarded  as  holy,  because  with  the  first  Christians,  es- 
pecially in  Judcea,  it  still  retained  somewhat  of  its  hallowed 
associations  as  the  Jewish  sabbath.  All  this  will  be  seen 
in  the  following  quotations  from  the  works  of  the  Fathers 
and  the  records  of  the  earlier  Councils  :  — • 

Apost.  Can.  64.  Counc.  of  Gangra,  Can.  18,  A.  d.  324. 
Council  of  Trullo,  C.  55.  4  Coun.  Carthage,  C.  64.  Anathema- 
tize all  that  under  any  pretence  whatever  presume  to  fast  on 
the  Lord's  Day. 

Augustine  Ep.  82,  to  Jerome,  speaking  of  the  practice  of 
Saturday  fasting  in  preparation  for  the  Eucharist  at  Rome,  says  : 
"  If  we  say  it  is  a  sin  to  fast  on  the  Sabbath,  we  shall  condemn 
not  only  the  Roman  Church  but  many  neighboring  churches 
where  the  practice  is  kept  and  retained.  But  if  we  think  it  is 
a  sin  not  to  fast  on  the  Sabbath,  we  condemn  all  the  oriental 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  Christian  world.  We  should 
therefore  rather  say  it  is  a  thing  indifferent  in  itself,  which  a 
good  man  may  perform  either  way,  —  without  dissimulation, 
complying  with  the  society  and  observance  of  the  Church 
where  he  happens  to  be.  No  precept,  however,  concerning 
this  practice  is  given  to  Christians  in  the  Canonical  Books." 

Apost.  Can.  65.  If  any  clergyman  is  found  to  fast  on  the 
Lord's  Day  or  on  the  Sabbath  (excepting  only  the  Sabbath 
before  Easter,  the  day  our  Lord  lay  in  the  Tomb),  let  him  be 
deposed ;  if  he  be  a  layman,  let  him  be  cast  out  of  the  Com- 
munion of  the  Church. 

So  also  the  6th  Council  of  Constantinople  (692)  confirms  the 
above  with  this  preface :  "  Forasmuch  as  we  understand  that  in 
the  city  of  Rome  the  Sabbath  in  Lent  is  kept  as  a  fast  con- 
trary to  the  rule  and  custom  of  the  Church,  it  has  seemed 
good,  etc." 


FASTING    COMMUNIONS  •    275 

Aug.  Epis.  36,  ad  Casulanum,  quoting  St.  Ambrose  respecting 
this  fast,  says  :  "  For  when  I  go  to  Rome  I  fast  on  the  Saturday 
as  they  do  at  Rome,  but  when  I  am  here  (in  Milan)  I  do  not  fast. 
So  likewise  you,  whatever  church  you  come  to,  observe  the  cus- 
tom of  that  place  ;  follow  the  Bishop  in  this  matter,  and  do  as 
he  does  without  doubt  or  scruple  "  (/.  e.  the  Bishop  as  authority 
to  appoint  fasting  or  not  in  his  own  church). 

The  following  words  of  a  revered  modern  writer,  in  view  of 
all  this,  are  noteworthy.  Christopher  Wordsworth,  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  Church  Hist.,  vol.  4,  page  41.  "  Here  we  may  remark 
that  when  a  church,  deeming  actual  communion  to  be  neces- 
sary, and  that  the  Eucharist  is  the  crowning  act  of  worship, 
and  that  early  communion  not  being  numerously  attended, 
ought  not  to  be  the  only  Eucharistical  provision  for  her  people, 
has  so  ordered  her  services  that  the  Communion  is  commonly 
administered  at  noon,  it  seems  that  Augustine,  who  declares  it 
to  be  no  small  scandal  to  fast  on  the  Lord's  day  (Epist.  36) 
and  who  commands  every  one  to  observe  the  practice  of  the 
church  in  which  he  lives,  would  not  have  advised  any  to  en- 
force fasting  as  a  pre-requisite  for  Communion." 

It  was  not  until  the  fourth  century  tliat  the  more  modern 
idea  of  abstaining  wholly  from  food  before  receiving  the 
Eucharist  began  to  prevail,  and  even  then  the  injunction  is 
ambiguous.  We  read,  indeed,  about  this  time,  more  and 
more  of  fasting  communions,  and  occasionally  this  meant, 
literally,  total  abstinence  from  food ;  but  we  should  not  be 
guilty  of  the  anachronism  of  reading  into  all  those  ancient 
records  ideas  that  they  were  never  meant  to  convey,  or 
which  were  of  much  later  origin.  If  "  fasting  "  and  "  ab- 
stinence "  are  terms  which  even  in  this  nineteenth  century 
may  mean  either  partial  or  total  abstinence  from  food,  the 
ambiguity  was  even  greater  then,  as  will  be  seen  when  the 
writings  of  different  Fathers  are  consulted. 

The  whole  object  of  fasting  is  to  promote  a  devotional 
frame  of  mind,  and  there  are  physical  reasons  why  communi- 
cants cannot  be  in  a  recepti\e  spiritual  state,  or  prepared 
for  the  concentrated  religious  effort  which  all  true  worship 


276  FASTING    COMMUNIONS 

requires,  after  a  hearty  midday  meal.  The  Primitive  Church 
was,  therefore,  guided  l)y  simple  practical  experience  of 
life  in  discountenancing  afternoon  or  evening  communions. 
When,  in  addition  to  this,  it  was  sometimes  enjoined  upon 
believers  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper  "  fasting,"  vve  must 
remember  the  ordinary  and  conventional  use  of  that  term  in 
those  days.  A  man  described  himself  as  "  fasting "  or 
"  imprnnsus  "  if  he  had  not  partaken  of  the  "  prandium,"  even 
if  he  had  taken  the  "  jentaculum,"  or  light  morning  repast. 
And  correspondingly  the  communicants  of  the  early  church 
were  regarded  as  "  fasting  "  even  if,  like  the  French  nation 
of  to-day,  they  were  accustomed  at  an  early  morning  hour  to 
partake  sparingly  of  food. 

All  this  appeals  to  one's  reason  ;  whereas  the  stress  that 
is  so  frequently  laid  upon  the  necessity  of  fasting  com- 
munions, in  the  sense  of  total  abstinence,  in  order  that  the 
first  food  received  may  be  that  of  the  blessed  Sacrament, 
seems  to  approach  perilously  near  a  kind  of  materialism, 
which  is  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  the  Gospels  ;  which  St.  Paul 
touches  with  his  profound  thought  in  the  second  chapter  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  and  which,  in  later  days, 
developed  into  gnosticism. 

Oftentimes  in  the  very  effort  to  make  little  of  the  body 
we  make  much  of  the  body,  and  thus,  inadvertently  but 
really,  divert  attention  from  the  spiritual  to  the  physical. 
The  highest  Christian  life  is  that  which  is  so  absorbed  in  the 
spiritual  that  it  is  unconscious  of  the  physical ;  and  this 
result  cannot  be  reached  if  our  bodily  needs  assert  them- 
selves abnormally,  either  through  our  self-indulgence  or  our 
self-denial. 

When  our  Lord  Himself  said,  "  Take  no  thought  what  ye 
shall  eat  or  what  ye  shall  drink  ...  but  seek  ye  first  the 
Kingdom  of  God  and  His  Righteousness,"  He  undoubt- 
edly meant  that  His  followers  should  be  so  filled  with  the 
high  aim  of  seeking  the  Kingdom  of  God,  that  these  physi- 


FASTING    COMMUNIONS  277 

cal  needs  would  be  subordinated  and  fall  into  the  back- 
ground of  the  Christian  consciousness. 

Again,  Christ  most  earnestly  warned  His  disciples  against 
that  universal  human  tendency  to  substitute  a  part  for  the 
whole,  or  the  less  for  the  greater,  which  was  manifested  so 
strikingly  by  the  Pharisees  when  they  substituted  the 
gold  of  the  temple  for  the  temple  itself;  the  gift  on  the 
altar  for  the  altar  itself;  mint,  anise,  and  cummin  for  the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law.  Do  we  not  behold  modern 
illustrations  of  this  self-same  tendency  in  those  who  lay  such 
an  abnormal  stress  on  the  mere  fact  of  fasting,  that  they  will 
neglect  the  communion  itself,  for  weeks  and  sometimes  even 
months,  if  the  circumstances  of  their  lives  are  such  that, 
because  of  illness  or  travel,  or  inconvenient  hours,  they  are 
prevented  from  fasting  before  comumnion  ?  Surely  this 
idea  is  an  exaggeration  that  will  in  the  end  defeat  itself 

The  more  we  reflect  upon  the  rule  for  fasting  laid  down 
in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  the  wiser  its  provisions 
seem  :  ''  On  Days  of  Fasting  the  Church  requires  such  a 
measure  of  abstinence  as  is  more  especially  suited  to  ex- 
traordinary acts  and  exercises  of  devotion." 

There  are  many  who  hold  as  a  simple  matter  of  Christian 
experience,  that  it  is  for  their  own  best  spiritual  welfare  that 
they  should  always  abstain  from  food  before  coming  to  the 
Holy  Eucharist.  And  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  spirit 
of  Christian  liberty,  that  wherev^er  it  is  possible,  an  early 
celebration  should  be  provided  on  each  Lord's  Day  for 
believers  who  feel  this  need.  This,  however,  is  a  matter 
for  the  individual  conscience.  But  if  any  are  disposed  to 
go  a  step  farther,  and  make  a  principle  of  that  which  should 
only  be  a  question  of  expediency,  then  they  are  refusing  to 
others  the  very  liberty  that  is  accorded  to  them.  To  say 
that  total  abstinence  from  food  before  receiving  the  Holy 
Communion  is  a  religious  obligation  imposed  upon  all  true 
believers  by  Catholic  usage  and  precedent,  is  to  give  a  false 


278  FASTING    COMMUNIONS 

idea  of  the  teaching  of  the  CathoKc  Church  ;  for  it  does  not 
include  the  Church  in  New  Testament  days  or  the  Church 
in  the  post-apostoHc  age. 

It  prescribes,  moreover,  as  a  rehgious  obHgation,  a  rule 
about  which  neither  Christ  nor  His  Apostles  have  spoken, 
and  which  seems  contrary  to  the  whole  spirit  of  St.  Paul's 
teaching.  Last,  but  not  least,  it  is  this  idea  more  than  any 
other  which  has  in  recent  years  prevented  the  Lord's 
Supper  from  being  the  chief  service  on  the  Lord's  Day, 
with  all  the  manifold  blessings  that  would  accompany  such  a 
devout  following  of  the  New  Testament  spirit. 


NOTE    B 

SUNDAY   SERVICES 

THE  question  may  very  pertinently  be  asked,  if  the  chief 
service  on  the  morning  of  every  Lord's  Day  should  be  a 
celebration  of  the  Eucharist,  what  would  become  of  that  large 
class  of  church-goers  who,  while  not  communicants,  are, 
through  the  influence  of  the  more  religious  members  of  their 
families,  or  other  causes,  more  or  less  regular  in  their  attend- 
ance upon  the  Sunday  services  ? 

The  answer  is  a  very  simple  one.  Let  them  have  their 
familiar  services  of  Morning  Prayer  and  Litany,  to  which  they 
have  been  so  long  accustomed,  at  the  usual  hour,  with  the 
usual  music  and  sermon,  conducted  in  such  a  way  that  they 
will  feel  no  loss  or  difference.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it 
would  be  for  the  good  of  their  own  souls  as  well  as  for 
the  benefit  of  the  communicants  of  the  parish,  were  they 
to  understand  distinctly  that  this  service  is  strictly  sub- 
ordinate in  every  way  to  the  Eucharistic  Service  or  ser- 
vices for  Christ's  faithful  followers,  held  in  the  earlier  hours 
of  the  day.  It  is  in  accordance  with  the  very  spirit  of  the 
Prayer  Book  that  these  opening  hours  of  each  Lord's  Day 
should  be  devoted  to  communicants,  by  having  a  quiet,  early 
celebration  for  those  who  would  find  such  a  service  most 
helpful,  to  be  followed  by  "3.  Solemn  Assembly  of  the 
Lord's  Day,"  like  that  of  the  Primitive  Church,  held  at  the 
third  hour  or  between  nine  and  ten  a.  m  ^  As  in  the  early 
Church,  this  celebration  of  the  Eucharist  should  be  the  Chief 

^  The  hour  varied  in  the  Primitive  Church,  as  it  was  regulated  by 
the  rising  of  the  sun  at  different  times  of  the  year. 


28o  SUNDAY    SERVICES 

Service  of  the  Lord's  Day,  not  only  in  outward  form,  but  in 
inward  spirit. 

Then,  at  the  noontide  hour,  or  shortly  before,  would  come 
the  usual  Service  of  Morning  Prayer  and  Litany,  with  music 
and  with  a  sermon  for  the  ordinary  class  of  church-goers ; 
and  for  those  communicants  who  might  desire  to  remain 
over  from  the  preceding  service. 

Sunday  afternoon  should  of  course  be  devoted  to  the 
children,  with  joyous  Children's  Services,  Sunday-school 
lessons,  and  such  public  catechisings  as  the  Prayer  Book 
enjoins. 

For  psychological  as  well  as  religious  reasons,  the  evening 
is  as  much  the  time  for  missionary  meetings  as  the  morning 
hours  are  for  the  communicants.  On  these  Sunday  even- 
ings are  needed  short,  bright  services,  with  familiar  hymns, 
hearty  congregational  singing,  and  rousing  mission  sermons 
to  the  unconverted.  If  deemed  expedient,  a  few  earnest, 
sympathetic  lay-workers  might  meet  each  stranger  at  the 
door  to  introduce  him  to  the  clergy  after  service,  or  make 
him  feel  in  other  ways  that  the  house  of  God  has  a  homelike 
welcome  for  all,  and  a  blessing  for  all. 

In  this  way  all  classes  in  the  community  are  cared  for  and 
helped,  by  services  adapted  to  the  needs  of  each. 


Date  Due 

■i  •< 

t^f;[f. 

^ 

